Black Feathers
by proser132
Summary: Greece is a beautiful place, full of goddesses, legends and - ghosts! Permanent hiatus, apologies. Still here for your viewing pleasure! S/D, AU
1. Chapter 1

A/N: **Hello once more! I **_**did**_** rewrite this thing, finally. Way longer, way higher-quality, and far less stupid. *rolls eyes* Those of you who read the first chapter and just walked off, Yume-chan has totally revamped and is ready to kick some ass! Let's go, go, go!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Kalokairi (on occasion) and the Flowering Willow. And all of my OCs. snatches back from producers- MINE!!! ****Warning: Yeah, so this is rated T. For a fucking goddamn reason.**

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_Once a year, at the little town of Kalokairi, Greece, the moon appears to set inside Kaligari Bay. It is a beautiful sight, for the waters appear to glow an iridescent hue, similar to sea gold, and all of the Lady's beautiful creatures come to await the spectacle. _

_It is not an atypical experience to have to call in the police to rescue some poor animal thousands of miles from home. Scientists have never understood this phenomenon (though many have tried, and several have gone insane from frustration), and the local populace have come to accept this as life and welcome the thousands of tourists who come each year to view this glorious event. And, it is one such year that our story begins, with a distraught young girl and one determined goddess…_

"No! We can't move now! We just got here!" The sound of Sam's shriek reverberated around the large hall, startling the butler into dropping one of the china plates. Sam's mother winced, before scowling. The late afternoon sun threw her face into sharp relief as her eyes hardened.

"Sammy, I know this is difficult. But your father's job has transferred him to Amity Park, and there is nothing you can do about it. Bertha will pack your things, then we will fly to the new house. And don't you dare complain! James, sweep that plate up!" she turned on her heel and strode purposefully from the room, likely off to oversee the packing of the rest of the china.

Sam resisted - barely - the urge to break something. Her father's job kept them moving all over the world, and they had only been at Kalokairi for two months. Sam turned as well, eyeliner smudging from suppressed tears, and grasped her coat.

"Bertha, tell my _mother_," She spat out, making the maid flinch, "that I went for a walk. Don't expect me back for a good long while." She flung open the door and stepped out, slamming it behind her. She could faintly hear the tinkling of another dish as it fell from the shelf, and found herself wishing viciously that it was on of the gold-plated ones.

She started walking down the gravel pathway, purple eyes following the coast. The mansion was set on a lush hill, where cliff faces pointed to the sea and birds were (for once, Sam thought reasonably) scarce. Her speed increased slightly when she thought she heard the door opening, and she kept going faster until she was full-on sprinting. _I do __**not**__ want to deal with this, not now!_ She skidded around a large cypress tree and ran faster, along the edge of the cliff. Several times, a rock went skittering over the edge.

_C'mon, c'mon… Leave me alone!_ She thought, annoyed that she could now hear footsteps following her. She jumped off the cliff.

It wasn't as dramatic as you'd like to think - there was a large ledge and a cave about fifteen feet below. That's not to say that jumping off a cliff isn't cool. Or really stupid.

She landed hard, scraping both knees & a hand and scrambling into a cave very conveniently (in her opinion) set into the rock face. It was no more than a crack in the wall four feet wide, six feet long and 20-30 feet deep, but it was a cave. The sun was setting on the other side of the island, and the shadow of her pursuer loomed on the ground. "Sam…? An unfamiliar voice asked tentatively. She could see the shadow retreat, and she sighed. She was safe for a while, she knew, so she turned. And gasped, dropping to her knees and wincing as the scraped skin became coated in dirt.

A small spring of water, glowing with an odd sealight, and a large willow tree - something that was rare, if impossible, in Greece - was in full bloom. The dying sun dyed the water's surface a deep bruised purple. She took a tentative step forward, eyes taking in everything she could. This should not be in a 20 to 30 foot cave.

A waterfall, small and not immediately visible, rushed off into a tiny hole in the back of the cave. The branches of the willow graced the thin plane of the water's surface with infinitesimal white blossoms, each with five petals. They were a ghostly color, except for a center of varying tints, and the wood seemed to curve in a crescent shape around the spring with a falcate of grass between the spring and the tree.

"Whoa…" she murmured. She stepped over one of the roots that made a three foot wall and settled into the tall, soft grass. She felt slightly out of place with her gothic clothing, purple lips, and black nails. _Way to be depressed, Sam,_ she groaned inwardly. She shifted and hit her rear against a stone tablet. After vocally announcing her discomfort (I.E., swearing), she picked it up and raised her eyebrow. "What's this…?" She began reading aloud.

_Lady, who art with me always,Who wipes my tears and erases my fears,Answer my plea, my cry of desperation;Allow me to escape this hell which has brought me to my knees!For I have no defenses to speak of;Nor any great magicks on which to dwell --All I have is your guiding handAnd this ancient, tired spell._

"Huh - this is weird -" something hit her, an ache in her chest, where her heart was supposed to be. "Oh, dear god -" she fell over, hitting the ground with a thump. Her back arched, and she fell unconscious from the pain of something ripping itself free from her skin.

_**My daughter…**_

Sam stirred, eyes still closed, but fell still again.

_**Sam…**_

Sam's eyes flashed open, and she sat up straight, eyes casting about wildly.

"Holy cra- who's there?!" Sam struggled to stand upright. She fell against the trunk, weighted down by something on her back. She paid this no mind; the woman in front of her, all in white with an owl on her shoulder, commanded her attention. "Athene…?"

"_**In the flesh. Now, daughter, you must leap into the sea.**_" All of Sam's respect for the goddess was lost as she gaped in horror.

"Whoa, hold on a second. What?" She said intelligently.

"_**Don't be dim,**_" Athene said, annoyed. "_**You have to jump.**_"

"See, the thing is that A) I'm still getting over the whole '_goddess_' thing. Though we are in Greece."

"_**Yes, that's a safe guess. I'm assuming that there is a B?**_"

"B is that cliff diving without any practice is suicide. And C) Why the hell is this story becoming so clichéd? Honestly, stumbling into a magickal cave, reading the mysterious stone tablet - which was daft, in hindsight - then meeting a goddess who obviously thinks I know too much, and is trying to kill me to save herself the trouble. What gives?"

"_**What gives? Interesting choice of words, but… your destiny is here. In stumbling in on this cave, tonight of all nights, your fate is sealed. You will join the Immortal Sisterhood, though some may oppose you or even make an enemy of you; it would not be wise, however.**_" she chuckled. "_**You'll be a powerful little goddess, I can see; with a vast story to look forward to.**_"

"A story?" Sam replied blankly.

"_**Of course. Can you expect no less? Immortality is nothing without stories, without words that twist and bind your heart to theirs; but this is not my forte. Someday when you meet the Muses, you should ask them about stories. Perhaps when you tell them yours, they will place it inside someone's heart and it will be written. Who knows? Now, do as I say, leap into the sea! The moon is high!**_"

Sam looked to the sky through the crack and was startled to see the half moon at its zenith. She dashed to the edge of the limestone precipice and looked down for a dizzying second; the waves roiled and bit at each other, playful but menacing, making the half moon snarl from the sea.

"_**H u r r y…**_**" **the moon whispered. "_**C o m e i n t o t h e b a y…"**_

Sam stood tall. The moon was no longer frightening, but neither was it comforting; she wanted to run but knew she could not.

So she leapt into the sea.

Her arms stretched wide, as if to embrace the curve of the earth, and the heavy appendages on her back seemingly disappeared. Her heart was in her throat and she screamed, only to have her voice ripped away by the wind and disappear.

Sam, for all her gothic beauty, was changed when the moon touched her skin; the purple and matte black melted to pearly grey, lustrous white, a glossy ebony like a night without stars, colors that burned when they touched her skin. They folded, serene as the moon beams they were made of, into great draping swirls of cloth that was pressed tightly to her body by the wind caressing her flesh. She straightened her body, angling toward the water, taking a deep breath of the air that slipped so furiously past her body.

She breached the surface and sank deeper than she had ever gone before, far deeper than the ocean was at that point - the half moon was a time for magick, and had changed Greece. She touched the sandy bottom, looking up at the hemisphere that dyed the sand beneath her feet a milky white and the water a clear cerulean blue. Clusters of seaweed, waving slightly in the underwater current, were aquamarine in the ethereal light; she looked at her skin in wonder, for now it burned with the pure _reality_ of Athene, and other goddesses (so Sam assumed; she hadn't met all that many.) She looked to the right, where a pedestal with three stones jutted defiantly from the ocean floor.

Out of air, Sam opened her mouth to breath in, remembering too late she was in the sea. To her eternal surprise, she did not choke - she only breathed in, and out. She shook her head incredulously and turned to the pedestal. A woman, who looked about twenty and burned as Sam now did, stepped forward.

"_**Hello, Sister.**_" she said. "_**I am Hekate. Hurry now, my dear; the moon threatens to sink beneath the cusp of the world, and you must choose your fate fully.**_"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked distrustfully. Hekate laughed.

"_**Are you a goddess for good? Or evil?**_'

"Evil and good are subjective. Being good for one is being evil to another," Sam protested. "How am I supposed to choose such a thing?"

Hekate grinned, delighted. "_**Such a wise little goddess, hmm? Well then,**_" She turned with an indecisive expression to the pedestal. Sam followed, peering curiously at the objects. At second glance, they were not stones, but small oblong gems; an onyx, an opal, and a diamond. Hekate seemed to consider them all until she selected the opal. A chain of silver, thin as thread, snaked through the delicate silver swirls that made the loop and connected with a powerful magnet, polished bright. Hekate turned and placed the necklace over Sam's head.

"My dear, you are now a goddess," Hekate said warmly, then shrugged. "Or at least half of one. That is why your goddess voice comes and goes as you please, but mine never varies; you just no longer hear the difference. Come, sit a while; we have much to discuss, and not enough time left to the night. Come, come!" She ushered the bewildered Sam over to a large stone, where she perched precariously.

"Why me?" Sam managed to say. Her robe-like dress, in its beautiful moon colors, swirled around her legs in the current. Hekate looked at her fondly.

"Because, my dear, we are two of a kind. Well, of a sort, anyway." She pulled a pendant from her star-studded black dress to reveal a necklace identical to Sam's, albeit much older. "We are the only two to ever receive this pendant. We are and were always the balance between dark and light, and it is equally important to not be light as it is not to be dark. You are strong, Sam; I believe you can take it.

"Now, listen. There are things you should know before we part." She whistled and three bubbles floated over; inside each was a sleeping puppy, one white, one silver, and one black. "These are your companions. They speak and can perform magick, and will guard you well. And so they should; they are immortal and dead at the same time, a ghost if you will, and you are their queen."

Sam looked startled. "What?"

"You are the Queen of Spirits and something humans call the Ghost Zone. This is not the underworld, at least not completely; this is the realm of those between worlds, and are almost dead. It is a terrifying realm, but you'll take it on. It's in your blood."

"I don't understand - why is everything half and half?" She asked, terribly confused. Hekate smiled kindly.

"As a goddess, you will live forever," she explained. "But you will grow old, and your body will renew itself to your current age."

"I'm only fourteen."

"And how much of that is your normal lifespan? Truly, you're not missing much. Please, listen closely! There is a goddess, who has wanted your throne for eons. But she hasn't been able to take it, because you weren't here, and you can't take something from someone who isn't there. Her name is Nepenthe, and she is one of the two goddesses of memory."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "I thought that was Mnemosyne."

"That is her sister, and the goddess of _good_ memories. Nepenthe is the goddess of bad ones. Don't interrupt! There are some ghosts on her side, and are willing to help her at any cost. If you hurry, you may meet your own army. They reside in Amity Park, Wisconsin, and -"

"That's where we're moving!" Sam interrupted again. Hekate looked genuinely shocked.

"And here I was worrying. Anyway, that is a worry gone. Do you remember the Flowering Willow?" Sam looked confused, then nodded vigorously. "That is your base. In your new home, you will be able to travel between the veil of the worlds to that cave."

"Interesting," Sam replied. She was pretty sure she was in shock. "Anything else?"

"Not now. Later, my dear. The moon sets!" She gathered Sam into her arms and leapt, through the now shallower water, through the air, and landing on the ledge; the puppies followed, drifting speedily along. Sam, being the tough sort, promptly fainted.

"_**Good night…**_" Hekate whispered, drying her clothes with a snap and changing them back into her original attire. She set Sam just above the overhang, where someone would find her. The puppies' bubbles settled on her stomach and popped, depositing them softly. They stirred, but slept on.

_Oh my god, is that… Sam! Sam, wake up!_

_She' s out cold, and freezing - get her inside! Hurry!_

_I don't understand - she ran off, then that man followed her…! Is she going to be okay?_

_She'll be just fine, Mrs. Manson…_

When Sam woke up, she threw up an arm to shield her eyes from the sun streaming through the window in her room. _My… room? _she thought, confused. But - the sea - she sat up ramrod straight, looking around wildly.

Surrounded by boxes filled with her possessions, and the yellow washed walls, she felt like it had all been a dream. She looked down at her sternum, relieved to see the opal. _So it was real…_When she looked toward the door, she could see the puppies were still napping. A pounding came furiously at the oaken gate, and Sam sat completely disconcerted as Bertha threw her arms around the tiny fourteen year old and started sobbing profusely.

"Oh, lady, we were so worried when you didn't come back, and then we found you near the cliff, and we were ever so relieved, because -" she began bawling again. Sam managed to calm her down after a few more minutes, and Bertha finished, " b-because someone jumped of the cliff!"

Sam resisted a laugh, calmed the woman down, and sent her on her way before standing and pulling on her customary gothic outfit. She smiled at her reflection, only because she knew that someone else was looking back at her. And indeed, her own eyes looked back, but they were larger, with longer lashes; her lips were fuller, and her cheekbones more defined. She also knew she had grown an inch in height.

Not bad for a night's work. Bertha called her down, to take the ferry to the airport and meet her family in Amity Park, and she steeled herself. Hekate was right; she was strong, and from the sound of this Nepenthe person, she had a hell of a job ahead of her. She glanced again at her reflection, now one of a goddess', and stepped out of her home in Greece, with the still drowsy puppies at her heels.

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	2. Chapter 2

A/N: **Hi! Let me know how you like the revisions - very fun to write, possibly fun to read. Lemme know!**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but Sam's alter-ego, MINE!!! And I really don't own Yasha, Sesshy, or Mir-Mir, Hekate's pups. Thank you for the people that thought of those names!**

**Warning: Please, if you have an aversion to swears, get the fuck out of here. This has been a notice from the Fuck Fuck Fuckedy Fuck Council.**

_Amity Park is a bustling, vibrant city, sometimes called the "Jewel of Wisconsin". Though, to some better-informed souls, it is "The Little City of Horrors". You see, even though it is well protected, Amity Park is plagued - by ghosts. These ghosts are vengeful, spiteful, angry… and currently, there are only two lines of defense. The first would be the Fenton family;_

_Jack Fenton, means well, a little slow, but good hearted nonethelessMaddie Fenton, a 9th__ degree blackbelt, very protective of the Fenton clanJasmine (Jazz) Fenton, genius, relatively good with weaponsDaniel (Danny) Fenton, 15, awkward but heroic when needed._

_And then… there is Phantom. On that note, our story restarts, at the efficient, clean, "ghost free" Amity Airport…_

Sam stared out the window of the private jet, watching the clouds go by and the occasional snatches of the sea as well. She knew that every time she complained about her life, there was a kid who would gladly take her place; but the whole stereotype of the lonely rich kid did have its grain of truth. Her mom always had parties, and her father was a workaholic. She didn't mind - she had never been the girly child her mother had wanted, and she wasn't ambitious enough for her dad. She shook her head.

"Are you alright, miss?" the stewardess asked politely. Sam smiled and nodded, noticing only then the "fasten your seatbelts" light. She hastened to oblige, clicking the buckles together and smiling once again, this time less forced, at the woman. She grinned back and returned to her seat.

The plane pulled in, a jolt and she was on the ground. She sighed, feeling slightly homesick for Greece, grabbed her carryon (a large black tote that currently housed her three pups.

"Sammy-kins!" Her mother cried out as Sam stepped onto the tarmac. She resisted a groan as the older woman lavished her with kisses, designed to feign affection. "Let's head home, this place is crawling with ghosts." she grasped at Sam's free wrist and dragged her toward the car, surprisingly strong. Sesshy, as she had named the silver pup, poked his head out and yawned. She smiled benevolently and he went back to sleep as she sat in her seat.

There was an uneventful two minutes when they pulled into the main road and Sam's mom beamed at her, inducing a desire to vomit in the young girl. She looked out the window, then gasped. That happens when you see a man flying toward your window.

He hit her window precisely in the middle, and whatever had hit him exploded. The car flipped twice and landed on the roof of the car, skidding five yards and smashing into a building. The sparks grazed Sam's face, slivers of metal scratching at her skin and a large fragment ripping the skin under her eye. She unbuckled herself, checking her mother's and the driver's pulses. They were only unconscious, and the puppies yapped at her heels as she scrambled from the car. They sat on their squat legs just outside her open door.

A boy, no older than she, faced the man in blue with contempt. His hair was mildly spiked and white, his eyes green and … glowing?

"Had enough?" He shouted. To Sam's disbelief, the blue man began to float. _They're - ghosts?! _She crept forward as silently as she could, wincing with each piece of rubble crunching underfoot.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" The blue man roared. He raised his arms menacingly and the cinder blocks of a nearby construction zone rose and flew at the boy. "I CONTROL ALL BOXES AND CUBULAR THINGS, AND MY LOVELY BOXES WILL FINISH YOU ONCE AND FOR ALL‼"

"Look out!" Sam screamed. She ran forward, even as the boy was buried beneath roughly a ton of concrete. The necklace bouncing against her collarbone began to glow of its own will and released a bubble around her. She stood stock still, staring in awe as ribbons of silvery light encased her body. _I thought this kind of stuff only happened in anime…_ she thought, throwing her head back and baring her throat. The bubble burst, and she collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. She glanced at herself.

A formfitting dress, black with violet lining, hugged her curves and fell to the ground I great swoops of silky fabric. Her hair was longer, with two locks of hair, one turquoise and one plum, hanging just outside the corners of her eyes. She turned her head, gasping to see black angelic wings, dotted with occasional silver, blue, and purple feathers. She stood. The necklace rested peacefully against her sternum, seemingly at ease again.

"Stop that!" Sam yelled at the man, who was dancing around and laughing maniacally. He turned to her and blinked.

"Who the 'ell are you?" He asked, sounding slightly intoxicated. He _hicced_ and she decided he was drunk. A crumbling sound came from the pile of rubble and the two conscious personas on the street turned in wonder and fear to see the boy rise, a couple of scratches gracing his face.

"Hey, ugly - wait, who're you?" He looked at Sam quizzically, if not slightly disbelievingly.

"You better hope I'm not the one you were calling _ugly_," she said scathingly. He winced.

"Great, a-_nother_ smart ass…" He moaned, sounding vaguely annoyed. "Hey, genius. Your quarry's getting away." She pointed a finger at the Box Ghost, who wa trying to escape stealthily during this exchange. She sighed. "Do you want me to get him for you, or are you a big boy?"

"Watch me," He said cockily. Turning his back on her, he opened his mouth wide and -

Well, she didn't really know what to call it. Anyway, he _technically_ released a concussive blast, which blew the Box Ghost into a wall. The ghost boy (because she didn't know what else she could call _him_) floated serenely over and sucked the ghost into a canister that looked vaguely like a souped-up thermos.

"What's your name?" She asked curiously. He frowned, as if thinking about it.

"You can call me Phantom. And yours?"

"I - I don't really have one." She shrugged. "Later." She turned around and sprinted back to the smoking car. When she was sure he was gone, she changed back and pulled her black cell from her bag. "911? There's been an accident…"

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After a harrowing three hours in the hospital, Sam and her mom finally made it home. Sam stepped from the replacement car, hurrying into the house with her pups by her side and a lot of fear in her heart.

"Your room is the third on the left of the fourth floor…" The butler droned at her. She nodded and walked leadenly up the stairs.

_Are you okay…?_ A voice said in her head. She looked around as she unlocked the door to her room and shut it behind her. Seeing no one near her, beside her pups, she sank to the ground. The puppies jumped around the room, painted totally black with white swirls and black lights recessed in the walls. There was a black iron staircase that led up to the roof, she supposed; but she had something more important to deal with.

_Great_, she thought tiredly. _Now I'm hearing voices in my head…_

_Yeah, and it's mine,_ Sesshy bounced over and sat at attention. Sam stared, then remembered Hekate's words. "_They can speak and perform magick, and will guard you well…_" She whispered.

_Of course! _Now Yasha, the white puppy, joined his brother. The black one started running over, tripped, and rolled the rest of the way.

_Though I do magick best,_ Mir-Mir said proudly, scratching his little head with an ebony paw.

Sam laughed. "Huh, what do you know?"

_Is that a question, or an idiom?_ Sesshy said, sounding slightly bored. Sam stood abruptly and walked past her bed to the staircase. Yasha whined and followed after in a huff, trotting quickly on his pudgy little legs to keep up.

_Ugh - I hate being a puppy forever!_ he complained as they went up the stairs. _You can't fight, can't be scary - no, everyone's always talking to you like a baby and scratching you behind your ears and, and giving you treats, and…_He licked his lips as Sam opened the door at the top of the steps. _Hey, you wouldn't have any treats, would you? Hey!_

She gaped at the sprawling garden on the fifth floor, or the roof. Her eyes scanned the tall trees with leaves just starting to hint at color, a pond, flowers in every color imaginable - and a goddess who smiled keenly from a marble bench.

"'Lo, dear! Come sit by an old woman for a change!" As she laughed, her body changed into that of a old crone, complete with lines and spots, and long lustrous white hair knotted loosely at the nape of her neck. Sam just figured she had to get used to it and sat gingerly by Hekate.

"What are you doing here?" Sam asked. Yasha leapt on the older goddess' lap and curled up. Sesshy and Mir-Mir bounded up the steps soon after and began to play in the garden.

"What? A mentor can't drop in on her student?" Hekate sniffed and stroked Yasha's head, who growled in his throat happily.

"Yes, she can - but a warning is nice," Sam replied. "So, what's this whole _veil of the worlds _thing, and how do I return to Greece?"

"Anxious little bugger, aren't you?" Hekate muttered, cooing to Yasha before setting him on the ground lightly. "C'mon then, let's show you…" She looked around for a second after brushing off her dress, then set off toward the pond.

"Um, Hekate?"

"Yes?"

"That's a _pond_." Sam gestured to the water feature in annoyance. "Not exactly what I had envisioned…"

"You have so little faith in me." And with that, she shoved Sam into the pond.

Instead of being soaked, Sam had the oddest feeling of floating through mist and then she popped out and landed in the falcate of grass inside the Willow. Hekate followed, looking smug.

"Okay, I concede…" Sam murmured, looking at her cave in shock.

"Follow me, there's one more thing about this cave," Hekate said, walking on the water toward the little hole in the back of the cave and sat down, sliding through it. Sam peered through the opening and gingerly followed, landing on a cold surface that was completely dark.

"Hekate…?" She asked tentatively. A clapping sound ensued, and flames burst into life around the chamber. It was large, and divided by short, squat boulders. Hekate smiled.

"In case you need a place to crash," She said shrugging. "You can furnish it to your liking later, but it's getting, well, later, and you have to go to school tomorrow."

Sam looked at her oddly, then shrugged. "Okay."

"Hey - don't give me that look, or I'll introduce you to Chiron. How he drones on about learning; just be glad I'm your mentor, and not him." Hekate wagged a finger. "Time to go!"

"If you say so," Sam replied, clambering up the waterfall and through the gate. "Hey, Hekate?"

"Oh - yes?"

"Does the pond go elsewhere?" Sam asked hopefully. Hekate grinned.

"I wouldn't know. You should find someone in this world to tell you." And she winked out of existence on this plane and into another.

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Sam sat up in bed, the nightshirt she was wearing soaked with cold sweat. She shook her head. _Not the same old nightmare… Stop it - I'm not two anymore!_ She shook her head angrily.

The puppies were soundly asleep - Yasha was even running, a sure sign he was dreaming of chasing something. She chuckled quietly and pulled on a coat, walking up the stairs and out into her garden.

The night sky played with the ends of her hair, inviting her to sit by pushing gently against her back; she followed benignly, sitting on the marble bench Hekate had occupied earlier and just looking up at the moon and what stars she could see in the city. The wind whistled by, but it wasn't frigid; it was more warm and soothing.

"_mmm…_" she hummed, low in her throat.

"_**Little droicieat, my little wonder; lay down your head, though the world's still asunder…**_"

Danny floated as high as he could through the sky, short of being in space. He loved being up here, wouldn't give it up for the world; well, maybe for the world, but only to save it. He yawned and cracked his jaw. Nursing it, he looked down. _Hey - since when has the old mansion been occupied?_ The lights were off for the most part, except a study where a man typed diligently into a computer, and a parlor that was being cleaned. He looked to the roof, where the garden he had liked to hang out in was.

A girl, barefoot and wearing a black coat, sat on one of the benches, swinging her legs and singing. _Who's that? _He soared down and landed silently on a large maple tree.

"_**Dream of tall ships, of the swirling waves; hidden hallowed isles, sea drenched coves and caves. Little droicieat, where shall you fly? Where shall you go when I am long gone? Will you lead you life seamlessly? Dreamlessly? Or shall your heart drown in bittersweet song? Little droicieat, your story untold, don't let another crush you dow -**_" Danny's foot slipped, and he fell out of the tree.

"Whoa! Hellfire!" he shouted, crashing through the branches. He thanked whatever god existed he was Phantom right now.

"Oh my goddess! Phantom!" The girl screamed, backing away slowly. He froze.

"How do you know me?" He asked, praying to whatever god he had just thanked that she wasn't like Paulina.

"Someone warned me - were you spying on me?!" she continued to step away slowly, obviously frightened.

"Hey - I won't hurt you. It's okay, all right? I'll go - just don't tell anyone you saw me, okay?"

"Fair enough. Now get the hell out of here! Fuck…" She clutched at her heart in pain, as if she had a heart attack.

Though weirdly enough, he felt a little oddly too. Maybe he was catching pneumonia… great, something _else_ for Jazz to worrying about.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"I'm Sam, now get out of here!"

"Jeez, all right already." He rolled his eyes and flew off. He felt compelled to look back - and was startled to see she had done the same. She waved slightly and smiled, then walked inside. He shook his head and coughed. _yeah, probably pneumonia…_

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A/N: **These rewrites are killers to my poor fingers, but I think they are doing alright. Let me know! I love lengthy responses. ^^ and new friends are always nice. **

**Have an idea for this story? Don't plagiarize - tell me about it and I'll see what I can do!**

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	3. Chapter 3

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A/N : **Qué tal, my readers! Going to shorten this A/N up, so we can get to Sam and Danny. YAY, SAM AND DANNY!!!**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing but The Willow, and Liz. Though, Liz should totally be a character in the show. Um, yeah, totally. You'll see why. Yeah.****Warning: The swears aren't bad, but you've got to warn everyone so they don't freak. *rolls eyes***_ Casper High School would be a prestigious school, with honors, awards, and medals - if it's hallways weren't a daily war zone. Ghosts seem to find this location attractive, and when you remember that the resident ghost has kicked their asses all the way back to the Ghost Zone, you'll see why. Phantom is possessive of Amity Park, and works on a daily basis to keep it danger-free, and does a good job of it, too. But he's often mistaken for the __problem__, not the solution, and so far, only three people have gotten inside his head, though not without some considerable danger to themselves…_

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When Sam woke up the next day, she had a killer headache and was in a relatively bad mood. Yasha bounced around, trying to make her laugh, but the pain all over her body was enough to drive her crazy.

"Not now, Yasha…" she moaned. "I need to find some Ibuprofen…" She stumbled off into her personal bathroom, while the puppies had a hurried conference.

_What do you think is wrong with her…? _Yasha said anxiously.

_All I know is that she went outside last night, and then I went back to sleep. _Mir-Mir replied, a tone of guilt in his voice. _We should have protected her…_

_Yes, we should have. _Sesshy said decisively. _But we did not. All we can do is ward the entire house while she's at school and watch for __**him**__. _

_Do you think __**he**__ would dare to show his face? Not since he allied with __**her**_**, **_of all people,_ Mir-Mir protested.

_Nonetheless, _Yasha said, ending the council, _we should follow her to her school, then come here._

_That is a good idea,_ Sesshy admitted reluctantly.

_So, that's what we'll do,_ Mir-Mir finished up just as Sam walked out and started rummaging through her drawers. The puppies averted their eyes discreetly as she dressed and trotted after her as she walked out. She took no notice.

Sam, for her part, was exhausted. She had finally fallen asleep at four in the morning, after staying up wondering if Phantom was watching her. As far as she could tell, he didn't know that she was the goddess he met earlier, but she couldn't take any chances.

She opened the door to her house and stepped outside, grabbing her bag from its hook as she crossed the threshold.

_Lady…?_ Yasha said tentatively. She paused as something similar to a spasm coursed through her.

_Yes?_

_Are you okay?_

_Do I look okay?_ Sam snapped. Then she winced. _Sorry, Yasha. But I'm in a lot of pain. _

_Why?_ Mir-Mir asked. Sam paused again, then walked down the front steps.

_I, I don't know…_ she whispered internally. She set off down the road, to walk the three blocks to her new school. It was the first day here, too; she was a sophomore this year.

She had gone a block and a half, stopping every so often to wince and gasp, when the screaming started. She turned and shrieked as she was knocked over by a ghost with hornlike hair and pink beams shooting from his finger tips. She landed and bounced on the pavement. The man looked at her intently.

"You wouldn't happen to be Samantha Manson, would you?" He asked pleasantly. She nodded, too shocked to be insulted at him calling her Samantha.

"Oh, good. Welcome to Amity Park." He aimed at her, and she only just managed to scramble out of the way of an explosive ray.

"What the hell?!" She shouted, crouching in a defensive position. The puppies growled and encircled her.

"Cute puppies. Are they going to protect you from me?" The ghost man sneered.

"_You bet!!_" Mir-Mir shouted. Sam wanted to tell them to run, but then they changed.

Muscles rippled beneath their fur and thee bones elongated; Their muzzles lengthened as well while they snarled. Before her stood three proud wolves, a foot or so taller than the largest wolf and twice as beautiful.

Sam knew she was gaping. As was the ghost man.

"_Any snide remarks now, Plasmius?_" Sesshy roared. She backed away and tripped on the curb, falling against someone.

"Are you okay?" A voice that was a little _too_ familiar asked concernedly. She looked up at Phantom, shocked. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound escaped.

"R-return of the stalker ghost," She managed to wheeze out through her minor heart attack. He flashed her a quick grin and set her on the ground.

"Gimme a sec," He said breezily.

In actuality, Danny was far less cocky than he was acting, but his cavalier attitude seemed to give Sam a boost of energy.

"Plasmius, you never seem to grow out of terrifying everyone." He blasted Plasmius, who laughed and went intangible. Danny swore as the older halfa flew off, for once not chasing him and turning to Sam.

"Need a lift to the school?" He asked kindly. She shook her head and took off. He sighed and turned to watch three puppies with an eerie resemblance to the wolves of a few seconds ago trot off in the direction opposite of Sam. He sighed again. It was going to be a very long day.

Sam skidded into the high school and immediately bumped into someone. The pain in her body was back - having disappeared with shock, she supposed - and it didn't help that it was obviously the head jock.

"Hey, watch it - wait. You're pretty cute." Sam made a retching noise and skirted the larger boy.

"Hold on," he said, a hammy hand clamping on her upper arm. She struggled and briefly considered using the Ai-Kido she had been taught since she was six, but then settled for using smarts.

"Yes?" She said coyly. He looked mildly shocked, then ignored it and continued.

"Why don't we go on a date? You could make up for the little bump a sec ago." He leered and she shivered. _Stay strong…_

"I'm terribly sorry," She replied, voice dripping with sarcasm, "But I couldn't possibly date you. Your intelligence quotient is below that of a gastropod, or a mycelium, for that matter. Unfortunately, the fact that your brain synapses fire slower than a nauplius moves through its aquatic habitat is a fantastically repellant quality, and as such I have to ask you to remove your hand or risk having all important appendages, including your cranium, ripped forcibly from the rest of your anatomy."

"Huh?" He asked intelligently, staring.

She tore away from his grip and whirled into the crowd of students, disappearing. She found her locker after a good laugh, and threw the books she didn't need that day into it. Turning on her heel, she nearly smacked into another person.

"Sorry about that," she apologized to the black haired boy. His blue eyes studied her guardedly, with a look of recognition that disappeared almost as quickly as she noticed it. "I seem to be knocking into every person in this high school."

"It's okay," He said, look of caution disappearing. "I'm Danny."

"Sam." she took a second look at him. "Did anyone ever tell you that you look like Phantom?" She said curiously. He flushed a dull red color and grinned.

"Yeah. Kind of a pet peeve, though."

She shrugged in response and dropped it. "So, what's up?" She said lamely, trying to come up with an excuse to talk to him. He was the only person she had talked to today who didn't want to kill her or date her.

"Actually, I was about to congratulate you." he smiled wider at her confused look. "You're the first girl I've met who can insult and turn down Dash in one go. Well, no, that's not true; you're just the first who's walked away."

Sam was perplexed, and his smile wasn't helping. "Thank you, I guess." She smiled, trying to act normal.

"You want to sit with us while we wait for Lancer to do the announcements?" He said. She nodded. _they can't be worse than Dash…_

Danny was a little unnerved that Sam had already made a connection between him and his ghostly counterpart; she was a little _too_ observative. But if she was already on Vlad's radar, he needed to keep her close. If not to protect her, then to find out why Vlad was interested.

She followed him into the cafeteria, a quizzical look on her face. She kept looking around, as if expecting something to jump out at her - which, he figured, was a smart thing to be cautious for.

At least in Amity Park.

"Hey guys! Look, I found another one!" He said, steering her toward a table in the back of the room. A two girls, one with curly blonde hair and another with red straight hair, and a boy with dark skin looked up.

"Hi!" the blonde said. "I'm Elisabeth DuMont, but you better call me Liz."

"I'm Samantha Manson," Sam replied dryly, "but you better call me Sam."

"Ooh, I like her!" Liz said cheerfully. She pulled Sam into the seat beside her and winked. "don't be afraid of me; I'm only slightly evil."

"Slightly is an understatement," The redhead remarked, then extended a hand to Sam. "I'm Jazz."

"Hello," Sam said, shaking her hand. Danny grinned, relieved; everyone seemed to like her.

"I'm Tucker, but you can call me Tuck. I'm the mecha-whiz." He said proudly, then returned to fiddling with the purple PDA in his hands. Jazz shook her head at him.

"Freak… Anyway, Sam, I have to go to my college courses and then we'll see you after school. That okay?"

Sam nodded, pleased. Jazz smiled and checked her watch. "Darn it!" She raced off.

"You get used to it," Danny sighed. "What class do you have first?"

"Um -" She fished her schedule out if her pocket. "Asian. With Mr. Cole."

"Oh, good! We have a class together!"

"**FRESHMAN! SOPHOMORES! JUNIORS! SENIORS!**" a man, overweight and balding, screamed into a bullhorn. Sam winced and covered her ears.

"_Lancer?_" She mouthed to Danny, who nodded with a grimace.

"There are some rules you all need to get in your thick skulls!" Lancer roared. "Do not mouth off to your teachers, be in class _on time_, no PDAs…" He smacked an Asian boy named Kwan in the back of the head as the teenager made out with a pretty but empty-looking blonde girl.

"_Star_," Danny muttered to Sam, pointing the girl out. He then turned his attention to the girl next to her and made a face. "_and Paulina…_" She caught his drift and stifled a snort. The girl in question was very pretty, with tan skin, dark hair, and a great figure. She was considering her reflection in a pocket mirror, and Sam knew instinctively this was Danny's crush. She elbowed him congenially and grinned, wincing slightly as another pang shuddered through her body. It was only then she noticed the pain had been missing.

Liz looked at her concernedly, but was distracted when Lancer screamed in fright. Sam whirled to see a humongous blue dragon smashing through the walls of the cafeteria, scattering tables and students alike. The girl named Paulina promptly fainted, and Sam snorted. She turned to run out of the room to see Danny already gone. Liz dragged her away, out of the cafeteria. Sam was torn from Liz in the swell of panicking students.

"Liz!" She shouted, voice barely heard above the din. An equally feeble "Sam!" answered her, but in the throng she couldn't hear what direction it came from. A burst of fire blurred the view of the cafeteria, and Sam dove in, relieved to see everyone had left. She looked up and was relieved to see Phantom soar into the room and begin to battle the dragon. She made to leave -

And saw a girl huddled in a corner, clutching her leg. Sam sprinted over and crouched low.

"Who are you?" the girl asked, dark brown eyes wide.

"My name is Sam Manson. Are you okay?" Sam asked.

"I-I think my leg is b-broken." Sam looked at it and cringed; it was most definitely broken.

"What's your name?" Sam asked. The girl quivered.

"I'm A-Alas de Merced."

"I don't think you can walk. Hold on." she dragged the nearest table over, and propped it so Alas was protected. "Hang tight, I think he'll be done soon," she reassured through a crack in the middle of the table.

"No! You have to stop him, something's wrong! It's stronger than it normally is," Alas protested. "I don't understand, but it's some how poisonous… Please, stop him! He's one of my best friends…" She fainted, and Sam noticed the bite mark she had been hiding with her right hand. It was blue.

"Hell," Sam groaned. Looking around, she made sure Phantom was preoccupied. She pulled out the pendant hanging around her neck.

_Please_… the bubble came and surrounded her, but was no longer the clear blue; it was a creamy gold, tinted vaguely pink. When she stepped from the bubble, the black slash-skirt of the day before was gone, replaced by the billowing yet form-fitting robe she had first worn as a goddess. Her hair was longer again.

She moved the table with a touch, kneeling beside Alas. Her eyelids fluttered open.

"Who are _you_?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Wait…" Alas blinked. "You're the girl from before." Sam's silence was answer enough.

"Be as quiet as possible." she set the bone with a horrific click. Alas nearly fainted.

"Well," She gasped, when she was recovered enough to talk. "I guess you need a code name… How about Rhapsody?"

"No, but close," Sam adapted, trying to confuse the girl. "Midnight Rhapsody." She touched the leg with a finger, and a voluptuous bubble blossomed and popped. The leg glowed and then the girl smiled.

"Better. About the poisonous bite…" She shook her left hand helplessly. Sam drew the poison out, pressing two fingers to the wound and a purplish liquid following the movement and congealing into a pill. Sam was concentrating so hard on removing every trace of poison she ceased to listen to the battle behind her. She tucked the little pill into a small reticule she found on the white-gold cord around her waist.

"Can you walk?" She asked Alas, who nodded and ran from the room. She turned on her heel and sighed. It was already a very long morning.

"Whoa!" Danny shouted, barely dodging another snap of the monstrous jaws. He noticed a very thin film of purple liquid on the fangs. _poison…_ he thought frantically. The dragon turned its head to him and charged, roaring. It was about to loose a burst of flame he couldn't dodge -

And a foot, clad in a golden boot, hit it square in the jaw and the jet of fire hit the wall. He stared as the girl from the day before landed neatly, like a cat. She studied the hole in the wall and turned to him.

"Are ghosts always this costly in property damage?" She lamented, huddling over the dragon's head. She whispered to it and touched it on the snout, and it stood up. Rumbling placidly, it walked over and nosed the Fenton Thermos he had dropped earlier, sealing itself in the cylinder. She waved goodbye and unfolded the wings she had kept hidden.

"Hold on a second!" He shouted, and she froze. "Who are you? I know I asked, but…"

"I found my name. I am Midnight Rhapsody." She hesitated, as if she wanted to say more, and she flew through the hole in the wall. He raced to the opening, but when he looked she was gone.

Sam raced to change back into herself and ran into the school. She found Liz and after assuring her she was okay, she wandered, looking for her class. She turned another corner and crashed full on into Danny.

"Oh!" She cried, falling against the lockers. She scrambled up and said hastily, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's fine, really," Danny said, looking slightly flustered. "Come on, I'm guessing you're lost. Class is just beginning, everyone scattered after the ghost attack." He seemed very tired. She smiled sympathetically and followed, concerned. She didn't have enough energy today, not with all the pain… She flinched, realizing with shock that the pain was gone again.

Today was just weird…

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A/N: **So. Yeah. Really changed, hasn't it? Save your reviews for the end of the last posted chapter - otherwise I get all confused. ^^**

**Of course, that requires leaving a review. Please do! =^.w.^=**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: **Hi! I'm, going to make this short and sweet - ton of stuff coming up. Be Prepared!**

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Sam opened the door to her house, anticipating the puppies jumping on her, which they did. She had begged forgiveness for skipping the after school meeting (and received it) with the excuse of still being in another time zone.

She was irritable again; the pain was persistent, and struck her whenever she moved too quickly. She fed the puppies and sent them to bed after giving them treats for protecting her that morning. They complied eagerly, having spent all of their energy on setting wards around the home, and fell asleep as soon as their tiny bodies hit the large wad of plush Sam had designated as their bed.

She retreated to the garden slowly, taking care to avoid the possibility of the wracking spasms of pain, settling on the marble bench. The sun's afternoon rays soaked into her skin and a few minutes later, Hekate popped up.

"Hello!" She said cheerfully. Sam managed a noncommittal groan and very slowly reclined on the bench. Hekate looked at her, puzzled. "Are you alright?"

Very patiently, she listened to Sam's tale, though her eyebrows rose at every mention of the pain. When she described it, Hekate leapt to her feet.

"Oh no!" She started muttering franticly to herself. "It's begun…"

"What?" Sam said. She never got her answer, because then Phantom popped up. He sat gingerly on the rail between the building and smiled at her.

"Hello, Sam!" He said brightly. Sam found she could move without too much pain and sat up, smiling feebly. "Wanted to see if you were okay - y'know, after Vlad tried to kill you."

Hekate paled drastically. "What? Vlad Masters is here?" she hissed. Phantom noticed her.

"You know him?" Phantom asked, perplexed, then shrugged. "Yeah, and he tried to kill Sam. Who're you?"

"He-"

"Helen, meet Phantom," Sam said hastily. Hekate looked at her then got it.

"Yeah, I'm Helen. And if he attacked her -" She leaned in to Sam, so Phantom could not hear, "He's on the side of Nepenthe." Straightening up and avoiding Phantom's look, she turned to the door and walked out. Sam's face had drained of all color. _Nepenthe… already? You already send my own -_ She surprised herself by thinking _my own_ - _to kill me?_

"Sam? Are you alright?" She nodded. Standing up, she followed Hekate.

"Later, Phantom." Her hand touched the door knob, pulling the door open and closing it gently behind her.

Hekate waited just inside the door, a terrified look on her face.

"Little one, you have to disappear."

"What?" Sam asked, face blank. "What's wrong?"

"Nepenthe sent the man, I know it. She already has many in her service. I can't allow you to stay in an environment that could cause the deaths of innocent people - not to mention the capture of _you_."

"But not the death of?"

"No. Something worse than death. She can lock you in your worst memories, until you go insane or you die."

Sam shivered, disturbed by this image. "But where could I disappear to?"

"The pond, of course. It's the only place she can't go with or without your express permission, even if she's taken another form." Hekate shook her head sadly. "I can prevent all attacks from ghosts and humans alike for three days. That's how long you have to get your army."

"What?!" Sam started to lost control. Hekate watched for a few seconds as Sam proceeded to panic as quietly as she could, so that if Phantom was still outside he couldn't hear.

"Calm down!" Hekate said. "You need to coax Phantom to help you - he'll do it. You're a very pretty goddess." Hekate disappeared. Sam blinked and stepped outside, looking around to find Phantom gone. She sighed happily and ducked inside. The bubble surrounded her, and the black outfit of before encased her body.

"Everything in place?" She muttered. She looked to see her prismatic wings folded comfortably against the spine. Stepping out again, the pain struck, but it seemed duller. She hoped desperately that it was leaving, and then shook her head, mind reflecting wryly on the yaoi titles in her room. If anything, she was becoming a major uke; a role that, unlike the one of a goddess, she was unwilling to fulfill. She turned to the pond, not startled in the slightest to see Phantom peering over the rail.

"What did you see?" She asked roughly. He didn't look unduly alarmed, so she hoped he hadn't watched her change into Rhapsody.

"Was there something I was supposed to see? Where's Sam?" Phantom looked confused, which was how Sam was feeling.

Fragment (consider revising) If you'll excuse me…" Sam walked over calmly to the pond, back to the ghost.

"What are you doing?" Phantom said suspiciously. She faced him and shrugged.

"What are you doing? Are you Sam's stalker, or something?" She ignored the suddenly protesting Phantom and turned again, preparing to enter the pond. "I'd love to stay and chat but I've only a few days before I and Sam have to disappear."

"What?" Phantom looked outraged and confused all at once. It was a disconcerting mixture, and Sam winced. "Where do you need to go?"

"The story takes too long to explain, and you don't need to know. Now, if you'll excuse me…" Phantom really annoyed her; she couldn't stand the way he managed to worm his way into whatever situation was at hand.

"No, I won't excuse you! I have a right to know what is going on - this is _my_ city, and she's _my_ friend!" He practically roared. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

Fragment (consider revising) How dare you! Do you know who I am?"

"A girl with wings and a chip on her shoulder the size of a two-by-four," Phantom said dryly. Sam scowled and flipped him off.

"She told me she thinks you're pompous and a worrier, and is pretty ticked off. She could have handled herself this morning, and would have if you hadn't come in and nearly killed her - not to mention the business with the car, where I had to step in!"

Phantom gaped as she walked directly into the pond, disappearing from view.

"Rhapsody…?" he touched the surface tentatively. He felt it as a quick and sudden tug at the pit of his stomach, and he was suddenly popping into a cave lit by sealight and landing on a very annoyed Rhapsody.

"Get offa me!" She shoved him fiercely from her and flared the wings folded along her back angrily. She turned tail and flew as quickly as she could out of the mouth of the cave as Danny stared in shock. He knew she had wings, and that they were pretty - but that she could move so fast…

He chased after her, not really knowing why. She burst from the cave into the night - it was near dawn here, and the faintest line of fiery marasca cherry lined the straight horizon where the sea met the sky. She paused and then dove straight down, Danny still trailing her closely. He was confounded as to what was causing her erratic behavior, but was intrigued all the same, even as she breached the surface of the ocean and he crashed into the water.

It felt like boring through cement, and he gritted his teeth as saltwater burned his eyes. Rhapsody looked back, shocked. She mouthed clearly, _you're still here?_ then darted into a small cave. He paused for a few moments, then followed hesitantly. As he entered the pitch black cavern, something heavy connected with the back of his head and he toppled forward. Struggling to maintain consciousness, he could see Rhapsody with a rock in her hand, a look of guilt flickering across her face.

_Not your best idea, Sam,_ She thought as she gritted her teeth and dragged the unconscious boy into the cavern that was her new home. She didn't really like this den anymore; she much rather would have stayed in Amity Park. She settled him dispassionately on the floor and studied her surroundings. _There is _no_ way I'm dragging a bunch of crap in here to make this comfortable…_

"You don't have to!" Hekate said sweetly, if quietly. Sam jumped nearly out of her skin and whirled on the older goddess.

"What in the hell does that mean?" She hissed.

"You're a goddess, right?"

"So?" Sam snapped, already tired of the conversation.

"You can use magick, you feral idiot!"

"Oh." Sam said, embarrassed. She had completely forgotten that. "How?"

Hekate sighed, and began speaking much slower. "Yooouuur maaaagiiiiick…"

"Stop - I mean, how do I use my magick!" Sam huffed.

"Your goddess voice." Hekate rolled her eyes. Sam, confused and embarrassed enough, turned to the cavern.

"What do I say?" She asked Hekate. Hekate shrugged.

"Whatever you want."

_Helpful,_ Sam thought scathingly._ I had to get the smartass as my mentor…_ She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. _How to use this crap, how to use this crap…_ She opened her mouth.

"cot." she peeked, but saw nothing. Hekate groaned and poked Sam's throat. A searing fire spread from the contact, sweeping through her body, and she would have cried out if she could.

"No warning?" She gasped.

"Didn't know your limiter was still in place," Hekate said matter-of-factly. "Go on, try again!"

"_**Um, cot.**_" A cot appeared in front of her, and she blinked. "Um…"

"That's how it works," Hekate said tiredly, bopping the unfortunate Sam in the head. Sam winced and heaved Phantom on the small bed; he stirred, then fell still. Hekate studied him a second.

"You sure did a number on the poor little ghost," She remarked, and Sam blushed.

"He was following me! It was return of the stalker-ghost!" She waved her arms crazily in emphasis. Hekate raised an eyebrow, and Sam became redder, contrasting with the sealight.

"Your business, not mine," She said, "But be careful. If anything happens between you two…"

Sam made a face. "Ew, I can't imagine that. He's so arrogant and self-centered…" She stuck her tongue out at him and Hekate laughed. She made to disappear, but in her head she was thinking, _They would make a powerful couple…_

Sam studied the cavern and got down to work. She set up her bed, and all of her books (she could have opened a yaoi fanshop with all of the titles she owned), plus random things she didn't own beforehand. Caer Avalon, as she called her new home, would respond to the slightest thought, to the point where she no longer had to say something aloud to have it. Now, she had a supercomputer, a small infirmary (where Phantom was now resting) and a comfortable kitchen adjacent to a huge library. The walls contracted and grew as she needed, and even rock ridges raised to create new dividers.

"Unh…" Phantom murmured, beginning to toss and turn. Sam paused in her decoration spree and hurried over, asking mentally for a cold glass of water and receiving it. His eyes flickered open and they were the clearest blue for a few seconds.

When he came to, Rhapsody was waiting with a glass of water and a guilty expression. Danny struggled to sit up, relieved that he was still Phantom; it could have been disastrous if she knew who he really was. She looked startled for a second, and even seemed to be studying his eyes, but then handed him the glass of water with an emotionless face.

Taking the glass, he realized how thirsty he was; he had apparently drunk some saltwater in his idiotic attempt to follow the girl.

"What are you?" He managed to cough out after draining the glass.

"A goddess," She replied tersely, refilling the glass with a touch, which he quaffed almost instantly. She refilled it a third time and held out a hand to slow him down. "It's dangerous to drink it too fast, especially after drinking that much ocean; I think the world lost a couple of inches in sea depth."

"Ha-ha…" he croaked. He finished the glass and set it aside. "Where am I…?"

"My home. Welcome to Caer Avalon." She smiled at her private joke.

"The Castle of Women?" He asked, quizzical. She rolled her eyes, annoyed that he understood the joke, and looked to the entrance. "It's roughly ten o'clock in Amity Park, so you better go."

"What!? Ten!?" He dashed out of the cot, through the opening, and was shocked to find himself falling through to Sam Manson's garden. He looked around wildly and flew off, too panicked to notice Sam, in her human state, step from the pond and go inside.

She sighed, sinking against the door. She hated it when people followed her everywhere, especially when they were as nosy as Phantom. He just seemed to get under her skin; but, she knew she'd have to pretend to like him as Sam. Wouldn't do to have him asking questions too soon…

Sesshy stirred and she hurried over, stepping softly on the stairs and stroking his head to keep him from waking when she reached the mountain of plush.

"_**Little droicieat, my little wonder… lay down your head, thought the world's still asunder…**_"

The next day was Friday, and Danny was panicking like nobody's business. The fact that he was grounded from everything except school (for breaking his strict nine o'clock curfew) meant that there was no way he could watch Sam to find out _why_ she acted like she did. That, and she was already a target of Vlad and other ghosts - what had she done to earn that kind of attention?

He pushed open the door to his house wearily, stepping outside with his backpack slung over one shoulder. Jazz followed, looking hassled.

"I can't stop at the high school this morning, can you say hi to everyone for me?" She asked, rushing off in the direction of the university without waiting for a response. He sighed and began walking to school. Halfway there, he saw Sam and Alas de Merced walking. He waved and ran to catch up.

"Please, Alas, don't tell anyone! I can't even stay that much longer!" Sam begged. Alas nodded.

"Are you really a goddess?" She asked. Sam shrugged in response, then turned; Danny was running toward them. _Oh, no, he didn't hear -_

"Hey!" She shouted, waiting for him to catch up.

"I didn't know you walked this way," He panted as soon as he was level with them.

"I don't, normally," Sam answered. _So he didn't…?_ "I had to talk to Alas about some homework."

"Oh." Danny said. Alas smiled at Sam, eyes clearly stating, _So when are you telling him?_

Sam shook her head, just the slightest twist, and Alas got the hint. Danny blinked and would have questioned it if Dash hadn't tried to deck Sam.

"Hey!" Sam shouted, sidestepping the clumsy move. Danny stared. He didn't know Sam could move so quickly…

"Somebody explained what you said," Dash seethed, "and now you're going to get it!"

"Okay, first; it took you a _day_ to figure it out?" Sam taunted.

"You used a lot of big words!" Dash said defensively.

"Second: _you're_ going to beat me up? Please." Sam rolled her eyes. "At the age of twelve I beat the shit out of my Ai-Kido sensei. He had six black belts in as many styles of martial arts. Since then, I've mastered three seperate martial arts."

Danny looked at her, confused, but she looked deadly serious. Dash puffed up.

"I play football for five hours a day, take kickboxing and boxing, and -" Sam punched him in the nose, which promptly broke.

"You were taught how to box. I was taught how to fight." she said dismissively, leaving him whimpering about his nose as she stalked off toward the school. Danny and Alas followed, staying quiet in case she got mad at _them_.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: **Haha! Rewrites are fun, but not as fun as reviews! I am trying my hardest to make this a story worth your time, but seem to be failing… *sighs, hoping someone notices she's fishing for compliments* **

**Alright! Let's get started, shall we?**

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**Warning: There are mild swears. *snorts derisively***

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**Disclaimer: No, I do not own this show, as much as I would like to. *crawls in a corner and starts crying***

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"Hey, Sam…?" Alas said nervously. "Are you okay?"

Sam looked at her over her organic chocolate bar, puzzled. "Yeah, of course. Why?" She took a bite off of the corner of the bar and glanced at the clock on the wall of the cafeteria. People rushed around their table and Danny was off buying his lunch with Tuck, having warned Sam that Tuck practically had a meat fetish.

"You seem kinda… _hurried_." Alas observed, falling silent for a second to chew on her enchilada. Liz plopped herself beside Sam.

"I agree, Rhapsody," She said lightly.

"It's just - WAIT! What did you call me?!" Sam asked, whirling on Liz who looked smug.

"Ha, you answered," She bit off the entire top of her sandwich in one go and chewed thoughtfully. She swallowed and continued, "It was kind of obvious, when you thought about it; that, and Astarte kind of let me in on the secret." She shrugged. "Personal goddesses are such gossipers. Ask Alas - Rhiannon practically talks her ears off…" she paused at Sam's look.

"There are more like me…?" Sam asked. Liz made a face.

"Heavens, no! But some of us _do_ get goddesses…" she fell quiet as Danny and Tuck walked over.

"Hey guys! What are y'all talking about?" Tuck asked. Sam, Alas, and Liz burst out laughing, even though the subject had been a serious one. As Tuck and Danny sat down, the girls heard Tuck whisper, "I knew they were talking about me…"

The three girls laughed harder.

"What do you have for homework from Mr. Cole?" Sam asked Danny, inciting a group moan. Danny had wheedled his parents into letting him go to the Nasty Burger.

"Too much!" Tucker said, smacking his forehead. Danny nodded.

"We have to read half of The Odyssey by tomorrow." He shook his head and Sam rolled her eyes.

"How long ago did you get the assignment…?" Liz asked slyly. She had to repeat herself because the noise in the Nasty Burger was deafening, as it was wont to do on a Friday afternoon.

"Umm…" Tucker muttered, going red.

"Last week," Alas said with a sigh, swiping her last french-fry through her ketchup. She popped it in her mouth as Sam poked Tucker in the side.

"Should have read it, huh?" she said lightly. Her eyes strayed to her watch.

"Crap. Hek-Helen's expecting me. Gotta go!"

"Wait, who's Helen?" Liz stopped her.

"She's a friend of _Ashley_ and _Rita_," Sam hissed. She smiled hurriedly at the boys and jerked her arm out of Liz's death grip. "She's my _tutor_, and if I'm late I'll miss my lesson."

"Oh. _That_ Helen." Liz whispered something to Alas, who nodded.

"Later, Sam!" Alas called as Sam practically sprinted out the door.

Danny watched Sam leave with interest. Helen had seemed harmless enough, but maybe he would look into her and her connection with Sam…

Liz was watching him, a dry look in her eyes.

"Do you _like_ her…?" She prodded.

Danny made a face that made Tucker laugh. He shot Tuck a look. "That's like asking me if I like Tuck," he said.

Tucker made gagging noises.

"If you don't mind lying to yourself…" Liz shrugged and returned to attacking her neglected burger.

Alas stood. "I have to go meet with _Rita_. Later." She walked calmly out of the restaurant, past Jazz who sat in Alas' vacated seat.

"Do you guys know where Sam is?" She said in undertones. Liz mumbled through her sandwich, but Jazz ignored her.

"Has anyone else noticed how quiet the ghosts have been?" Jazz asked all in a rush. Danny cocked his head to the side and shook it. "I was in the library -"

"What else is new -" Liz cut in, earning herself a smack in the back of the head.

"- and I found a book I'd never seen before."

"That _is_ new," Liz said. Danny smacked her now.

"It was about goddesses, and a prophecy," Jazz explained. Danny noticed Liz looked a lot shiftier as she nursed the identical bumps on the back of her head.

Jazz pulled the book from her bag, and opened it to a page she had marked. "It says here that there is a certain cave in Greece, set in a cliff above the sea, with a willow that is constantly flowering."

"What?" Danny gaped. Had he heard right…?

"To quote the book, '_There, a maiden of equal dark and light / will on a grief struck moonlit night / read the tome and words of yore / and there be the Queen of Spirits born.'_ The book goes on to explain how to recognize her, and the warning signs. And - get this -_The girl-child who becomes the Queen of Spirits controls neither the human world, nor what comes after, but the places where those two worlds intersect and where the numerous lost souls congregate._' Danny, this is the goddess of the Ghost Zone!"

Danny blinked. The whole story was sounding far more familiar than it should have.

"But there are two parts that worry me. It says there is a different goddess, _ah_, Nepenthe, that seeks the literal throne. She is the goddess of memory."

"I thought that was -" Liz burst out.

"Mnemosyne, I know. But this is her sister, the goddess of _bad_ memories. The other thing is that days before total war breaks out, all ghost activity will grind to a halt. Every spirit must choose what side to fight for. Danny, that means _you_, too!"

"Since when do you believe this kind of stuff?" Tuck asked; he was ignored by Jazz as well.

"Does she go by any other names?" He asked weakly.

"Let's see… Ah, yes. One other. Midnight Rhapsody." Liz buried her head in her hands and Danny could see his vision distort with shock. He stood abruptly.

"I have to go," He said.

"Danny?!" Jazz called after him. Liz followed hastily, leaving Jazz and Tucker at the table.

"Was it something I said?" She lamented.

Tucker just nodded, clueless as well.

Sam skidded onto her roof, gasping from the exertion of running the four miles from the Nasty Burger at breakneck speed. _I have to get back in the dojo…_ Hekate was waiting, playing with the puppies blissfully.

"Sam!" She stood and embraced the younger goddess warmly. "You're late."

"I'm sorry! I got caught up at the Nasty Burger -" She shook her head. "I wanted to spend some time with them before I - well, before I disappear."

"Understandable. But there's only really one thing left to teach you," Hekate reassured. "Then you have to seek out the ghosts on your side, then … go to war."

"What is it you have to tell me?" Sam said, breathing finally returning to normal.

"Your transformation time is much too slow, and leaves you vulnerable; you need to learn how to transform quickly." She tapped the little pendant just below Sam's collar bone and muttered "_**Open.**_"

The silver clasp unfolded sinuously, slithering out and leaving the opal hanging in the air. It literally flattened and the silver became a cover; it landed in Hekate's fingers.

She now held a book.

She opened it to one shimmering page, filled with words in an odd dialect that seemed to slip and skate across the page to Sam's eyes. Hekate hummed as she worked, taking out a pen from one of the folds of her flowing gown and contemplating the words until she found one she wanted. She poked it with the pen and it separated himself from the swirling ether of the rest and quivered as she erased the dot over the vertical lane and replaced it with a thin swoop. Sam felt something change inside her, and shivered; she felt as if her body had been tempered with, as if the very makeup of Sam Manson had been altered.

Which, of course, it had. "_**Close**_," Hekate said, and it shimmered back into the pendant and flowed into the chain left limp against Sam's neck.

"Now the bubble is optional; you can choose either the bubble, or an instantaneous flash of light." Hekate smiled. "I have to tend to another matter, in downtown Kyoto, but I'll check in later." She winked out of existence.

"Huh," Sam snorted. _let's see what I got…_

"_**Change!**_"

She was blinded for a few seconds, and then she looked down at herself to see that she was completely Midnight Rhapsody. Her white gown swirled almost in an almost antigravitational manner, and her wings were folded against her spine reassuringly. Her hair was lengthy, and whipped around her as the wind picked up mysteriously.

"Sam," Danny called, alighting on her roof and changing instantly. She seemed absorbed in her own thoughts. She murmured something, and he was momentarily blinded; when he could see, he almost fell over.

"Sam?"

This time she heard him.

_Oh. My. God. Please say that he isn't… please say he didn't…_ She turned slowly. Danny was staring at her in utter shock. "Sam's not in," She said uncertainly, praying he had seen nothing.

"Sam, I know it's you," He replied. His eyes were wide and clear blue, piercing her and making her feel as guilty as if she had killed someone and was now meeting their mother.

"Look, it's not what you think -"

"Yes, it is, Midnight Rhapsody," Danny shot.

"Well, you're one to talk!" Sam walked over and poked him neatly in the chest. "You've been hiding something, and now I demand to know what it is!" She poked him again.

"Hey - I can't tell you _lightly_ -" He said, rubbing the spot she had poked him. She poked _hard_.

"No, but you can stalk me, discover the secret that I've managed to keep a grand total of four days, and then show up on my roof without making a sound." Sam paused. "How in the hell did you do that?"

"Um - trade secret," He muttered.

"Liar." she hissed. He started to realize how angry she was when her eyes changed from the calming purple to an acidic green. "You explain to me _right now_ why you are stalking me. And then you're going to explain your connection to Phantom - yes, I'm not blind!" She stepped back and crossed her arms.

"I-I" Danny didn't know how to proceed from here. Her eyes narrowed. "Dammit, Danny - out with it!"

"Aargh! I'm Phantom, all right?!" Danny shouted. He gasped and clapped his hand over his mouth; Sam looked struck.

"What?" she finally said quietly. The green was fading in her eyes to a dull, lackluster blue. _Emotion-sensitive irises,_ Danny thought.

"Here." Hating himself as he did so, he changed to Phantom in front of her. She blinked, and then stepped forward slowly. She seemed to be studying his face. He thought she was going to poke it, but then she slapped him with all the force of an infuriated pimp.

"Hey - OW!" Danny backpedaled, clutching his face. Sam's eyes were red now - and it was very creepy.

"How dare you lie to me!" Sam shouted. "I've met both of you how many times, and then -" She looked like she was having a serious heart attack. "- Then you interfere with me, cause a freaking _accident_, stalk me, annoy the hell out of me, discover my Caer, and - and -"

"Calm down, Sam." Danny tried to coax her into breathing. "You didn't exactly tell me who you were either…"

"Shut up - that's not the same - um," Sam said, flustered and red. "I've been here for three days! It's not as if I could just _waltz_ into school and say, 'Hi, I'm Sam! I happen to be a half-goddess, and your world's about to go down the tube - hope you don't mind, I might have to tear up your city to save it!'" She crossed her arms and glared at him with the ferocity of a tiger. Her eyes, however, were a purple-pink mixture - hopefully that meant calm, because Danny did not want to die anytime soon.

"I guess not," He conceded.

"Why did you come here in the first place?" Sam said. Her eyes were completely normal again, which Danny took as a good sign.

"Actually," he sighed, "I came to ask if you needed help in this new inter-dimensional war about to break out."

"Ah." Sam blushed. "We might need to explain this to everyone - well, everyone except Alas and Liz."

"They know?" Danny asked, surprised. Before Sam could respond, someone threw open the door to the roof. Out ran Liz and a slightly older woman, dressed stylishly.

"Sam - Oh. Danny got here first?" Liz shook her head and dismissed the thought as unimportant for now. "Alas is downstairs with the pups and Rhiannon -"

"Hello, Astarte. Oh, Rhiannon's here too?" Hekate said pleasantly. Sam didn't bother being shocked when the goddess appeared without warning, but Danny yelled out in shock. "Oh, hush." She snapped at him. "This is about to get serious."

"Yes, she is," The woman (Astarte, Sam assumed) said. "Along with Jazz, and Tucker."

"What?" Danny was thoroughly confused.

Sam smiled. "You're in the presence of several goddesses. Don't worry - you'll get used to it."

"I don't know about that…" He muttered. Sam turned to Hekate, eyes already a vibrant yellow.

"I need everyone upstairs. Have them call their parents - tell them they're spending the night, spending the weekend, whatever it takes. Everyone needs to be here." Hekate blinked at being ordered about, but she and Astarte hurried down the stairs to gather everyone.

"What are you up to?" Liz asked, scrutinizing Sam.

"Trying to save the world," Sam shrugged in response. "I think you guys have been up to that before, right?"

"Everyone set?" Sam asked, eyeing the motley crew: Jazz, with various ghost weaponry (something Sam hadn't been expecting), Alas and Rhiannon (a girl who proved to be covered in a fey sheen and giggled every time Tuck tried to hit on her), Liz and Astarte, Danny as Phantom, Tucker, and Hekate.

She got a few yeses and one or two sighs, and she grinned. "Follow me," She said, sinking into the pond. She got out of the way quickly - a lesson she had learned thanks to Danny - as they popped out.

The goddesses and Danny were unfazed, but everyone else practically gaped at their surroundings. Sam smiled; she remembered when she first came to the strikingly beautiful cave.

Walking quickly across the surface of the water, she paused at the entrance to her home.

"You guys coming, or what?"


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: **Hey, dolls! Listening to oldies and eating cookie dough swirl ice cream. (you **_**know**_** you want it!)**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter!**

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**Warning: I want to warn everyone who doesn't like swearing, that there is a tiny fucking probability it will happen… even though it often doesn't.**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing but Rhapsody, the Flowering Willow, and Greece. HAHA - I OWN GREECE - *wakes up***

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Liz followed purposefully, shaking off her wonder like a mild cold, and the goddesses came next. Tucker and Jazz were next, and then Danny came; they were now in a semi circle around Sam.

She winked, and suddenly Danny got the feeling she was going into her best Indiana Jones persona. The skirt of her dress swirled around her legs, and she rustled her feathers absentmindedly as Jazz opened her mouth.

"Where are we?" Jazz asked.

"This, my dear, would be Greece." Sam waved her arms around in a sweeping gesture, as if to welcome them; her lengthy sleeves billowed like clouds. "But there will be no sightseeing tonight; Hekate, if you would."

Hekate's eyebrow rose, but she followed Sam's movement into the cavern. The goddesses followed first, everyone else balking slightly at the abrupt sliding motion it took to reach the room; but Liz went next, fearless as always, and then Tucker, then Jazz - finally, only Danny stood at the entrance.

_What am I getting myself into?_ he thought exasperatedly, before taking the small step into the room.

There was an instantaneous falling feeling, as if he had stepped down an elevator shaft; when he landed, he staggered slightly before entering the room.

The last time he had been here, he hadn't had much time to study his surroundings. Now, he eyed the cavernous room with an expression of awe. There appeared to be a library, full of books (though he winced when he saw that the majority of them were either yaoi or doujinshi. He didn't like either), and a kitchen. There was also a room that was completely sealed off, a giant computer (that he was pretty sure Tucker would be humping if Liz hadn't been holding him back with - was that her pinky finger?!) and the infirmary he had woken up in.

"Wow, Sam," Liz said, still restraining Tucker. "Quite a flat."

"I guess," Sam shrugged. "You can let him go - I can fix the stupid computer if he messes it up." Liz nodded in the affirmative and let Tucker go, who promptly fell on his face.

"How long is this war thing gonna last? I told my mom I'd be home on Monday," Liz said, smirking at Tucker's back.

"I don't know. Hekate, are you helping?" Sam asked, half knowing the answer.

"Sorry, love," Hekate replied, a look of genuine regret in her blacker-than-pitch eyes. "This is a war that I have no control over."

"Astarte, Rhiannon?" Sam asked, heart sinking.

"Sorry, hun, but no," both replied. Liz and Alas gaped at their goddesses.

The three puppies tumbled through the door, startling the room's occupants. They stood tall (or as tall as puppies can.)

_On behalf of our mistress,_ Yasha said, eyeing the goddesses angrily; Danny, Sam, Alas and Liz were surprised to see the three women cringe.

_We are requesting as the moon, and as a collective,_ Mir-Mir, one canine bared, growled out.

_That you, as the female and humanoid representations of the moon, _Yasha snarled, saying the biggest words Sam had ever heard from his mouth.

_Do your duty to the Goddess of Spirits!_ They said in unison. Sam, Alas, and Liz looked to their goddesses, who looked ashamed.

"…We suppose we can heal, and assist from afar," Hekate mumbled. To Sam's shock, her head was almost bowed in deference to the puppies.

Astarte and Rhiannon nodded their assent.

"Please understand our reluctance," Rhiannon pleaded, looking to Sam and Alas for forgiveness.

"We are technically forbidden to interfere in your war," Astarte explained. "Mnemosyne may help you, and perhaps Athene, if you're lucky; she never liked Nepenthe much. As the moon, we swear fealty."

"…" Sam nodded. Her heart was in her throat; she was startled by the gratitude she felt for these goddesses, her family. _Thank you,_ She said internally, and wasn't too surprised when they nodded in recognition.

"Who's ready to start fighting?" Sam finally asked, and the whoops she got made her stomach feel light.

"Do I get to run the computer?" Tucker asked, hopeful. She smiled at him and his eyes lit up.

"Okay - what do we know?" Sam asked. Everyone was in the library, sitting at a table Sam had conjured with a thought. She had also switched out her yaoi library (after one look at Danny's face) to one that would hopefully have what they needed.

"Nepenthe is the goddess of Memory." Liz offered.

"She has a major grudge against you." Alas added.

"She may have some goddesses on her side," Astarte mentioned. Sam's eyes flickered to her, and she shrugged. "I'm sure Aphrodite is with her - and possibly Persephone."

"But Persephone is soft hearted," Rhiannon argued. "She'll probably just shelter the refugees."

"Good, glad they have a place to go." Hekate sighed. "If we're lucky, none of them will need the Crossroads, as Sam did."

Sam nodded, remembering the underwater altar.

"She may also have some ghosts," Jazz warned, flipping through the book she had gotten at the library. "There's a whole chapter on who may be on her army - Skulker, Plasmius -"

"The bastard who tried to jump me? Explains a lot," Sam murmured darkly.

" - she's got some nasty people," Jazz sighed. "She may even have Danny's fu-" Danny stood and glared at her; Jazz shrank back and mumbled something under her breath. Sam looked back and forth in between the two.

"So, in other words, we need what magick we can get, ghost weaponry, and a boatload of ghosts." Liz summed up, unfazed by the awkward air and simultaneously breaking it.

"Yes," Astarte smiled at her charge. "Just about."

"So that's it." Sam turned to the puppies, who were perched precariously on her lap. _"Do you know a way in?"_ she said, inside her mind and aloud at the same time.

_We're insulted that you're asking in that doubtful tone,_ Mir-Mir sniffed. _Of course._

"Into where?" Alas asked curiously.

Sam took a deep breath. "The Ghost Zone."

Instantly, an icy atmosphere settled on the group, as if she had just personally announced she, in fact, had two heads and her other head's name was Francis.

"What?" Danny finally gasped out. "You'll be killed!"

"I agree with him," Jazz and Tucker said in unison. "You don't know what it's like," Jazz continued, a nervous look in her eyes. "It's a hell in floaty green form. Don't risk it."

Sam rolled her eyes. ""I'm not going now, and not alone. The pups will be with me."

Liz snorted. "Yes, they can help you. Look at them -" She paused as the pups morphed into the wolves indignantly. She blinked, surprised. "Point taken."

"I'll go, too." Hekate said. "I owe you that."

"Me too," Danny said. When Liz eyed him (with a smirk, it seemed), he said, "I'm the only one who really knows my way around the place."

Sam nodded. "But not until tomorrow. For now, we need to start outfitting this place. Hekate?" Hekate stood, and whispered something in her ear; Sam gaped at the goddess.

"Any size?" She whispered. Then she shook off her shock and stood. "Okay, rooms for you guys, then we'll worry about the troops later…" She walked off, into the main hall.

The group followed, even the goddesses looking unnerved at Sam's concentration.

Sam stood in the hall, studying her surroundings. She braced herself against the ground, then closed her eyes. Her pendant rose unsteadily to float between her outstretched hands; they cupped the opal, which burned unnaturally.

Danny studied her; she _did_ make an interesting silhouette. Her wings extended until the sleek black feathers glittered in the light cast from her stone, silver, teal, and purple accent feathers burning as intensely as the pendant. Her hair floated around her, a black and purple-streaked halo - her robe-gown swelled around her legs and whipped about in her personal maelstrom.

Her eyes opened slowly, and they were a pure lustrous white. She didn't seem to be seeing anything. Behind him, the goddesses took a simultaneous intake of breath; he knew if he looked back they would have surprised expressions.

_Go get 'em, Sam,_ he thought to himself.

"_**Expand.**_" The room obeyed her command instantaneously; it was now a grid of light that extended into forever. The room didn't appear to fade, but rather instantly was just unrealized possibility. This was the true cavern, devoid of everything except her and the group who huddled together in shock.

"Another dimension…" Rhiannon whispered in awe.

"A new one," Astarte answered, looking about in wonder.

"Caer Avalon," Danny felt his own mouth say, and he could somehow _feel_ the goddesses behind him nodding.

"_**Reveal.**_" Then, quite suddenly, they were in what appeared to be an insanely large cave system - lit by blue and gold flames at intervals along the walls, the hallway seemed to extend a mile or so down into the cliff. There were doors lit by white firelight at adjacent spots all along the hall. The glow around Sam settled until she was no brighter than the rest of them, pendant falling against her chest and eyes returning to their natural purple color.

"How'd I do?" She asked Hekate cheerfully. She only smiled wider when she realized Hekate was struck dumb.

"So, you have your own dimension?" Liz asked, astonished (something that was very, _very _hard to do.)

"Apparently." Sam shrugged it off, as if being told she had black hair. "I'm not complaining, though; who's tired?"

Tucker's hand rose, predictably; so did Alas', Liz's, and Jazz's. Sam smiled. "Hold on, I got rooms for everybody." She took off down the hall, everyone following gingerly. "Here -" About a three minute's walk down the hall, she pointed out Alas' room. "- you just sleep, okay? Tomorrow, we have a lot to do." Alas nodded and yawned, walking into her room.

Danny looked at his watch, and was startled to see that it was just past one in the morning.

Next was Tucker's, then Jazz's; Astarte said she was tired as well, and so Sam put a bed in Liz's room for her. Eventually, Rhiannon went to go kip in Alas' room, and Hekate, Danny, and Sam were the only people left awake.

"I think I'm going to explore," Danny said awkwardly.

"Okay," Sam replied. In truth, she was tired, too; but she wanted to go outside. Hekate declared her desire to go peruse the library, so Sam gave her directions, then headed in the opposite.

She reached the small pool of water that was the entrance and exit and flew up it, reveling in her flight. She landed softly on her pond, rings of light radiating from wherever her feet touched. The ripple effect was beautiful.

Walking quickly through the water, Sam stepped up into the willow's embrace. She impulsively hugged the trunk, not knowing why. Turning her head to the cave opening, she breathed in the sea air and strode away from the tree.

She stopped on the ledge, watching the half moon on the sea as the waves shattered the hemisphere and brought it back together in a single shape. She balanced on the edge, the cold not bothering her; the wind was soothing on her warm skin. And then she let herself fall.

The rush of falling hadn't changed - it was exhilarating, reckless, stomach-dropping; Sam screamed in laughter and felt the wind tear the words away to keep them for its own. Her wings snapped out at the last moment and she soared just above the spray, beating her wings for an extra burst of speed and rocketing straight up. She spun in the air almost breathless but still managing to breath; her wings beating just slightly enough to keep her hovering.

Kalokairi was just below her, outlined by the moon; her old house stood empty, and she felt a dull pang as she remembered the human she'd never be again. She turned to the sea, looking where the pale sand dropped off into the deep sea. It was striking, the difference; she was met with an odd desire to dive into the dark blue ocean. Just before she could act on the impulse, a voice called out to her - one that she recognized too easily for her own comfort.

"Sam!" Danny called. She was so very high in the sky; it was an interesting thing, to see her silhouetted by the moon. She was beautiful (though Danny quashed this thought almost before he acknowledged it.)

"Hey," She said, as soon as he was at her level. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," he said. He was wary of her, now; he had seen her power. "You were amazing," He said without thinking, and she blushed.

"Thank you, I guess," She said. She looked at the sea, then back at him; smirking, she abruptly folded her wings back and fell like a stone.

"Ack!" He said, following her. She smiled.

_Haven't you ever just fallen?_ she asked. He shook his head, surprised at hearing her voice inside his head. She spread her wings and flew to about half the height she had been when he had come out.

_It's fun._ She explained. _It's the rush of near-death._

"You make it sound like a drug," Danny laughed; Sam would have pouted, were she that type. As it was, she scowled and stuck out her tongue.

"Shut up," She muttered. "It's fun. Try it!"

"Drug," he warned, and promptly had to duck under her slap-of-death. He rolled his eyes, but stared when she clamped on his wrist and flew straight up with a powerful twist of her wing muscles.

"Hey -" She gave him no time to really respond when she reached the zenith of the sky. He looked down and his breath caught. From here, he could see all of Greece, and several of the countries around it whose names he couldn't remember; the moon was close, and there was practically no atmosphere. Danny, in his ghost form, realized he didn't need to breath here, and Sam seemed unaffected by the lack of oxygen.

Sam smirked at him, and he blinked. "Fall." She demanded.

"No." He said, staring at her like she was crazy.

"_Fall._"

"No."

"Dammit. Didn't want to do this." And then -

Sam kissed him.

Danny felt his body freeze as her lips pressed against his without any warning. She had simply been hovering two feet away before, and now she was unbelievably close. He blinked (the only movement he was capable of, since his heart stopped) and she pushed him away.

For the first few seconds, he didn't even notice he was falling. The next few, he realized he could start flying and stop falling, but Sam might kiss him again if he did. Or slap him. His mind was so preoccupied with this thought it was totally unaware that his body was enjoying the falling immensely. When his mind figured it out, he was halfway through the fall and swooping lazily through the air, then he whooped and angled his body so that he'd fall faster.

Sam's laughter echoing behind him made his cheeks burn, so he forgot her for a moment.

Hekate looked out from the mouth of the cave, a small smile on her lips as the ghost boy flew back up at the last second, and then both the goddess and the ghost began to race.

"_**Little droicieat, my little wonder…**_" She hummed, chords near silent as she watched her charge's flight under the benevolent face of the moon.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: **Hey! I know some of you have been getting frustrated by all of this hiatus crap, but I promise to get working faster! If you think this particular chapter gets off track - I swear it doesn't! Forgive me, ye gods of FFN, and enjoy, please, my humble offering!**

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Sam skidded onto the ledge, laughing still. "I can't believe you forgot to pull out of your dive!" she cackled. Danny scowled.

"Well, if I hadn't been so distracted -"

"By what?" Sam teased.

Danny quashed his body's instinct to blush and kept his face expressionless; there was _no_ way he was telling Sam he had been thinking about kissing her again when he had plowed into the sea.

"Though, it was a hell of a cannonball," Sam continued practically, leaning against the wall. "Fifteen foot waves all around…"

Danny scowled some more. "What time is it?" he asked begrudgingly.

"It's two in the morning." Sam yawned hugely, cracking her jaw slightly and leaving her sheepish. "I'm going to go to bed - what about you?" She looked to Danny, who nodded.

"Yeah, we've got to get up at some point tomorrow…" He trailed off, studying the world beyond the pond. Ignoring it, he floated just above the surface and went into Caer.

Sam followed slowly, fingers trailing across her lips slowly. _Note to self: Danny being stubborn is a _very_ good thing._

The next morning (in which everyone was up before Danny and Sam), Sam presided over cooking breakfast in the kitchen, with the subtle help of Astarte.

"I'm not the matron goddess for nothing," She said gently, removing the spatula from Sam's fingers and throwing out the burned mess that was supposed to be eggs. Sam, who was embarrassed, retreated to the library and disappeared in there until breakfast was over.

"I wonder what she's up to," Alas thought aloud, pausing to take a bite of the perfect omelette on her plate. Liz nodded in agreement and mumbled something that was hard to make out, due to the mountain of bacon she was steadily destroying.

Tucker rolled his eyes and turned to talk to Rhiannon again, Alas and Liz began whispering in conspiratorial tones, and Danny ignored them all and focused on his toast.

He looked up when he felt one of the puppies brush past him, and he watched them trot off into the library.

"Excuse me," He said to Astarte, who nodded and turned back into the conversation she had been having with Hekate.

He followed the puppies curiously and slipped inside the library before the door shut behind them.. Sam was seated at the table in the middle of the room, her back to Danny; the pups sat in a line in front of her, attention unwavering.

_What do you suggest we do?_ She asked despairingly.

_Well,_ Sesshy said uncomfortably.

_I think you should find out what everyone can do, and then assess how many ghosts you need,_ Mir-Mir barked, voice soft so as not to draw any attention.

_I think you should ask Danny,_ Yasha said, glancing for only a second at him.

_Maybe, but I'm not sure if I can…_ Danny blinked, waiting with bated breath for her to continue. _Something - happened, and I'm not entirely sure where we stand right now. I'm nervous to ask any favors. _

Sam looked at the puppies for some ray of hope, but they couldn't seem to give it; when a knock came at the door, she started, stomach churning with fear and worry.

Danny was leaning against the wall beside the door, a look of calm indifference on his face. He was in his human form - the dark hair, the pretty blue eyes, and the innocence that his ghost counterpart just seemed to lack. Sam felt her heart restart from the shock of seeing the idiot watching. She also felt better about reverting to her human form.

_I agree with Mir-Mir,_ he said easily, startling her more by mindspeaking. _But why are you so nervous? I'm just Danny, I'm not going to bite._ He grinned slightly.

_S-shut up, _Sam replied intelligently. Her face was a brilliant pink.

_If you say so,_ Danny smiled. _But as far as I know, you're just Sam, no matter what form you're in,_ his eyes glanced at her, truly taking in her human appearance, _and I like you both ways. _

There was an awkward moment of silence, in which Danny blushed and Sam paled considerably. _Thank you,_ she finally said, relieving the tense atmosphere. She stood and walked over, as if to exit; at the last second, she turned and kissed Danny, who was still leaning against the wall and promptly fell over. Sam laughed softly at his stricken form, and especially at his wide, wide eyes.

"If paralysis is how you're going to react every time I kiss you, I may have to stop," she teased before sweeping out the door, leaving him no time to respond - though his sputtering was answer enough.

"Morning, everyone," She said, feeling annoyingly chipper, "Finish your breakfasts and meet me in -" She squinted down the hall, picking out the correct door, "- there, okay?"

"When did _you_ get a personality transplant?" Liz snapped. The rings under her eyes were apparent; now that Sam was paying attention, Alas looked tired too.

Now suspicious, she noticed that Alas was wearing a hoodie that day. Dismissing it impatiently, she stalked off into the room she had indicated.

"Anyone else notice Sam's acting like a bipolar six year-old lately?" Liz said a silent moment later.

"It's understandable," Hekate said placidly. "Her power's obviously on the fritz."

"What?" Rhiannon said, confused.

"She's being affected; she has her own dimension. It's psychically linking itself to her; it's a painful process."

"What the hell?" Alas said, sounding grumpy.

Astarte looked at her. "What's your problem today?"

"What?" Alas and Liz said in unison. Tucker studied them for a second, and then a smile broke out on his face. He started to chuckle, and then he was roaring with laughter, doubling up over his breakfast.

"Tucker?" Jazz said worriedly. He began to laugh without noise; his face was a chocolate red.

"I - can't - believe I - never - noticed -" He choked out. Alas and Liz turned red and sprang across the table, clapping their hands over his mouth before he could reveal anything else.

Rhiannon and Astarte coughed unobtrusively. They stood to go, and no one noticed; everyone sort of filed out after a staring contest between Alas, Liz, Tucker and Jazz that lasted a good five minutes.

Sam was, at the same moment as Liz was asking after her, in the room. It was nothing more than a circular cave hewn from the rock, ground thick with dirt. It had been packed, and was covered with a light blanket of dust; she stood in the center, breathing in and out slowly. It was the only idea she could think of. _This better work…_

"_**Skies above, earth below**_," Sam whisper-sang. She turned slowly on the spot, bending low to scoop some of the dirt-dust from the ground to her palm. "_**From you, my eternal love shall flow…**_" she breathed on the earth and watched it squirm into life. "_**Make this being as it always has been and always will be.**_"

The dust fell from between her fingers and hit the earth again, raising little dust clouds at it swept skyward again in swirling lotus motifs. A small, humanoid creature began to take shape, obviously female, with a teeny waist and a flat chest; her head was shaped differently from a human's, having a pointed chin and a high cranial dome. Her slender neck looked just big enough to support it.

Color slowly began to seep into the dust creature; pale, peach-colored skin, with distinctly blue hair, and a green draped dress that was gathered at the conjunction of her collarbones and pinned to a string that ran round her neck. It fell just below her knees. As an added precaution, there was a slender gold binding-bangle on her right ankle.

"_**Open your eyes.**_" The brownie followed her order, opening her frighteningly large eyes to reveal completely blue spheres - no white, no iris, no pupil, just a sea awash with every color of blue that ever existed and ever would. "_**I name you Slera.**_"

"_I accept my name. I am the brownie Slera._" The little brownie, or Slera, replied, as everyone walked into the room.

Danny felt his eyes pop. There stood an absolutely calm Sam and what appeared to be an - elf?!

It had softly pointed ears, huge eyes; it clearly wasn't human.

"_**I name you Slera**_." Sam said clearly, voice rich and liquid.

"_I accept my name. I am the brownie Slera_," Slera said, her voice high and sweet, crystal clear and warm as summer.

_Did she just… create that thing?_ he thought, surprised. Everyone followed behind him.

"Oh -" Hekate said, feeling the power still in the air. "Sam… did you…" She sighed. "You did."

"_My name is Slera,_" The brownie said again, flitting over the ground to Hekate. Her feet never once touched the ground, Danny noted. "_I am the child of my Great Mother, Rhapsody. She is the creator of the Inhumans. She is a friend of yours, no?_"

"Yes, she is," Hekate replied, bemused. Danny shot a look at Sam that said, _great mother?_

_I don't know,_ Sam said to him internally. _I didn't tell her that. I just made her and named her._ As if that wasn't enough.

"_Then how may I be of service?_" Slera asked politely. "_I am a servant of Caer Avalon, for as long as my Lady sees fit._"

"Slera," Sam called.

"_Coming, milady!_" She said, giving a rapid curtsey to all of those present before skimming over to Sam.

"Slera," she explained as the pups slinked in behind everyone, "You're free to do what you want, whenever you want. You don't need to serve anyone if you don't want to."

"_Milady,_" Slera scolded, tiny hands on her hips, "_I can leave the loafing around to another Inhuman. I am choosing to stay by your side._"

"Other Inhumans?" Jazz said. "I only see the one."

"That's because the others haven't been created yet." Sam pointed out. "Slera, please go stand by Alas and Liz." Slera nodded and floated peacefully over.

Sam turned her back to the people. _This is going to take a lot of energy, _she thought. Her pendant swam up from her collarbone, unclasping itself and floating at eyelevel. The puppies, sensing they were needed, came to her side.

"_**Skies above, earth below,**_" She hummed, the pendant opening to an orb of white light with silver threads shot through it, "_**From you, my eternal love shall flow…**_" Her wings spread wide instantaneously, even though they had not been there before, "_**…Make these beings as they always have been and always will be.**_"

The earth shook from beneath them, and Danny toppled in surprise. Taking their cue from him, all of the humans and currently unoccupied goddesses sat to prevent injury.

The ground just beneath Sam cracked, and the cracks spread until she was the center of a spider web. From the cracks unfurled giant leaves and sprang bubbles; streams of water and fire blossomed from the earth in rapid swirls.

And then came the People. They all looked similar to Slera, if differentiated in their natures; there were young, feminine Avianics with gossamer wings that burst from the bubbles, with their male counterparts having slightly larger wings. From the leaves stepped forth the Earthians, leaves splayed over their bodies and hair of vines and eyes of hibiscus and larkspur and lily; from the fire came the Djinn, eyes burning, underneath the skin flames licked.

And from the water advanced the Crystallines, hair of icy threads and cold yet warm.

And among these were the Shadows and the Lights - only separated by how dark the colors were.

They crowded around Sam in joy, and Danny could only watch in awe; Hekate's sudden intake of breath right behind him let him know she had been holding it.

"The Fae…" She whispered in wonder. "She created the Fae…"

"What are the Fae?" Danny asked, not taking his eyes off of the dozens of little forms surrounding his friend.

"They've been known as the Sidhe, or the Little People, for centuries," Rhiannon answered him. "They only existed as _tulpas_, or products of the human imaginati-" She gasped suddenly, then turned to Astarte. "The proph -"

"I know," Astarte hushed her.

"Here -" Jazz said, pulling out her handy book. "'_There, a maiden of equal dark and light / will on a grief struck moonlit night / read the tome and words of yore / and there be the Queen of Spirits born. Heart in hand, pendant clear / struck by no great mortal fear / she will face the memories dark / and on a long journey she'll embark. She, the great Mother of Fae, of new / will forget, to forget her own to rue / the Fae, in her name, in her Caer of dreams / will keep it for her memories' beams._" She shook her head. "I don't get a lot of it, but it mentions the Fae a lot."

"Is there any more?" Tucker asked, interested despite himself.

"_There return with heart intact / consort grown and entrenched in fact / his eyes, large and disbelieving / will fall to memories' deceiving. _And there the passage ends." Jazz shrugged. "it's kind of scary to see how much has come true."

Danny couldn't agree more.

"_**Your name is Brennan,**_" She said, to the latest Earthian. She turned to the final to be named.

It was a Crystalline, large white-blue eyes screwed up in determination.

"_I am Lissith._" He said stubbornly. Sam laughed.

"_**Very well. You are Lissith.**_" She laughed again and stroked the small Crystalline's head. He shook off her hand and still stood there. "_**Yes?**_" She asked, sensing he wanted something.

"_I wish to remain by your side, as do Brennan, Æria,_" He said, naming an Avianic, "_and Remory._" He brought these three forward. Brennan shuffled his dark little feet in the earth shyly, Æria fluttered hesitantly with abnormally ornate, silvery-clear wings and a lengthy white dress, while Remory looked at Sam with his orange-yellow eyes.

"_**You may. Slera,**_" She called. The brownie skimmed over quickly. "_**Meet your companions.**_" Sam introduced each, then turned to the group of Inhumans as a collective.

"_**Everyone, this is your world. This is your home. There is an entire planet here for you and you alone, but you must care for it.**_" Sam could hear the noises of surprise her friends were making behind her, but she ignored them for her people's sake. "_**There is a great door at the end of the hall; go through it to home.**_" She paused now.

"_**There is going to be a war. Between another goddess and I. She desires to take this dimension and another, known as the Ghost Zone, for her own.**_"

Danny smiled slightly as he heard the hisses and jeers the Little People made as this news was brought to them.

"_**I will not let her. And neither shall you. When I call upon you, ride into war with the powers and intelligence I've given you. For now, you may run free.**_"

The Fae cheered and raced by the humans and goddesses alike. They stood hurriedly so as not to be trampled by dozens of little feet; the Fae were soon gone, except for the five who had chosen to stay.

"Busy day?" Danny said lightly.

"You have no idea," Sam said wearily, before collapsing in a puddle of overworked goddess.

"_Milady!_" Danny heard Slera gasp with fear. He saw the brownie and Sam's companions rush forward in terror, but he stood rooted.

"What's wrong with her?!" Alas asked frantically, checking Sam's pulse. It was very weak under Alas' fingers.

"She's…" Rhiannon started, then she choked on the words in alarm.

"She's just created an entire race under almost her own power, and you're asking what's wrong with her?!" Hekate snapped. Alas blinked, hurt. "We need to get her to the infirmary."

"_Please, lady Hekate,_" the Avianic, Æria, said timidly. "_She gave me the knowledge of healing. I know where the infirmary is - if you would follow me -_" She sounded deathly afraid of being reprimanded.

"Lead the way," Hekate said sharply. Æria nodded and turned to Sam; raising her thin, delicate arms, she summoned a whirlwind to carry Sam and directed it out the door. Everyone followed in a rush, except for Danny and the pups.

_We should have given more -_ Yasha burst out as soon as everyone was out of earshot.

_She's hurt and it's our fault… we were meant to protect her, and -_ Mir-Mir sounded as if he was about to begin howling from regret.

_You two!_ Sesshy scolded. _We gave all we could, almost to the point of collapsing ourselves. We could have given no more. She simply tried to do too much, too soon._

_Don't blame yourselves, guys. _Danny assured them. _You couldn't have done anymore. Come on - let's go look at this world Sam created._

The puppies nodded sadly. _But what about Lady?_ Yasha asked fearfully.

_She'll be okay, _Danny said with absolute faith. _We'll be back to see her awake._

_How do you know?_ Mir-Mir asked.

_She's Sam. Has she ever been taken out for long?_ Danny shrugged.

_We wouldn't know - we've been with her scarcely longer than you have._

Danny blinked in surprise. "Seriously?" he said aloud.

The puppies nodded, then trotted off to the door. _Come on,_ Sesshy yipped. _We have to go set up the portal._

_To where?_ Danny asked. He knew the answer anyway; when they turned, he could see it in their eyes. There was a moment of consideration, of silence; then, without much deliberation, Sesshy said, in a shockingly human voice,

"The Ghost Zone."


	8. Chapter 8

A/N:** I normally hate putting these in a story, and expect the first few disclaimers to stand for the entire story. But I suppose, because of the **_**Inuyasha**_** connotations, I should disclaim both Danny Phantom and Inuyasha. In answer to your questions, **_**no**_**, this is not a crossover fic. There isn't enough of both shows to merit a crossover. My muse, Reyna, agrees with the passion of a thousand burning suns (though, she has the passion of a thousand burning suns for everything. Yeah, it **_**does**_** wear me out.)**

**So, I'll repeat my thanks to all of you who read this. You're lovely, all of you, and the reviewers get special thanks. **

**Arigatou, and enjoy chapter eight of Black Feathers! (This chapter borders in angst, but it's not. I swear - there is some light at the end of the tunnel!)**

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_It was absolutely quiet. Sam opened her eyes slowly, blinking them as if to dispel the darkness that clouded her sight; to her complete and utter surprise, the gesture (which she had already deemed useless) actually did clear the obscuring nonlight to reveal a blue-grey dawn. She sat up, slowly; there was no point in shock here._

_She sat on a hill, in front of a sea, blooming with heather. The grass was soft under her fingers as she pulled herself to a sitting position, knees tucked to her chest in a fetal position; she instinctively knew she was in Greece - though, in what reality she wasn't sure. She felt infinitesimal weights settling against her skin, and she looked at herself._

_She was full goddess, moonlight robes bound with a soft slip of cloth at her waist, and great black wings with her hair pulled back with a leather thong; she sat with her legs splayed to either side of her. The small weights were _feathers_ - black and teal, purple and silver; it was as if the rain of softness was her own plumage sent to fall in soft arcs around her. She gathered one of each color and, pulling the leather strip from her hair, bound them together and to the thin swath of cloth at the waist of her golden and silver-like robes, that gathered them together to make them swirl around her body. She stood, feathers forgotten, and walked toward the sea down the hillock._

_Pebbles skittered every which way under her feet, and as she left the dune she alit on gravelly sand. The sharp rocks moved, almost consciously, so that she wouldn't step on them as she made her way to the sea. She stepped out on the gently spiraling waves, which were headed away from shore; she stood calmly on the curling sweeps of blue that carried her swiftly to the middle of the sea._

_Fish swam elegantly just below the surface of the water, following her movement; shining tuna and marlin were just beneath her toes, and she smiled at the sight of them. She marveled at the serenity she felt; in all of her life she had never felt so peaceful. She was normally so angry, so focused; relaxing her shoulders to fold her wings along her spine, she mused that perhaps being unfocused and just going as her heart told her was good. _

_Sailfish leapt from the ocean in front of her, soaking her on occasion with the spray, and she just smiled wider. The wave abruptly stopped, and Sam knew she was in the middle of the sea. She began to sink, slowly and leisurely, but she refused to panic. Disappearing beneath the waves, long black hair undulating around her, she was calm and ready for Nepenthe, who she _knew_ was waiting - Aigenn, the bottom of the sea._

Hekate stroked Sam's head, worried. Moments ago, the younger goddess had abruptly changed into her moon goddess form, and then four feathers, bound with dark blue leather, had appeared at her waist. She was dreaming something that was more real than where they were. Jazz, Liz, Alas, Tucker, Rhiannon and Astarte were all huddled at the breakfast table with Remory and Brennan; Æria and Slera were bustling around Sam, checking her vital signs and making sure she stayed alive. Lissith had been sent to find Danny, once it had been realized that he wasn't among their number. The pups were with him, so Hekate wasn't worried; but Sam would want him here when she woke up.

At the table a heated discussion was springing up with the ferocity of a mother tiger protecting her kittens. In fact, each side _was_ protecting something - their viewpoint.

"Sam and Danny shouldn't go to the Ghost Zone!" Jazz said, Alas and (surprise!) Astarte nodding in agreement. "If Nepe-whatsit has ghosts on her side, they're _sure_ to attack them!"

"If Sam and Danny _don't_ go to the Ghost Zone," Liz snapped, "_Nepenthe _is only going to get _more_ ghosts on her side!"

"We don't have a fixed view on Nepenthe," Tucker said fairly, even as Remory, Rhiannon, and Brennan voiced their agreement with Liz. "She may rule by charisma - or by fear alone. Chill, guys - don't make any snap judgments. That's what is going to get us killed."

"This entire conversation is ridiculous!" Hekate cut in, gliding over like a bat. She stared each of them into guilty silence before continuing. "It is their choice, no one else's - and the more you bicker, the more divided we become! Tucker's the only one who made any sense, and he _still_ implied that you could make the choice for them!" Hekate sighed and turned her back to them. "We need to wait for Sam to wake up and Lissith to get back with Danny," She murmured resignedly. "It's the only way to know for sure."

"_Hekate!_" Slera called, a note of urgency in her high, clear voice. Hekate looked over to see the brownie studying a monitor that was hooked up to an electrode on Sam's forehead. Even from where she stood, the age-old goddess could see abnormal brain waves being recorded. She began to run.

_Um, Sesshy?_ Danny thought uneasily.

"_Ye-_es?"

_You're talking aloud._ Danny fidgeted as the white pup considered his words.

…_Sorry. It's a thing that happens on occasion as we get closer to the Ghost Zone._ He trotted out the door and down the hall; Mir-Mir, Yasha, and Danny followed anxiously. The latter directed a nervous look down the hall in the opposite direction, where he knew the infirmary was.

"Shouldn't we check up on Sam?" Danny asked, verbally. Sesshy stopped and looked at the door, a sad look crossing his little puppy face.

_There's nothing we can do right now,_ he said, sounding depressed. Shaking his shoulders, the white pup set off down the hall toward the large wooden door that led out into the world Sam had created. Mir-Mir and Yasha scrambled over and helped him wrestle the door open. Danny, sensing that being completely human here would be a mistake, changed to Phantom. His black and white Hazmat comfortably snug around his body, he followed them out into the new world.

_She sank lower and lower; the water caressed her wings, slipping like silk betwixt the dark bundles as her feet landed in a puff of sand that tickled her ankles. She took one step forward, and stepped on something round. She knelt and picked it up, brushing the soft sand from the surface; it was a mirror. It didn't reflect her face, but another's._

_The oval-shaped visage with pale skin, the color of white sand, had high cheekbones and colorless eyes; the eyes were not white, but clear with small black lines radiating from the pupil. Reddish-purple hair flowed in waves past the translucent eyes, curling in every which way. She looked up at Sam with/ a small, sad smile created with full, red lips._

_Sam heard her intake of breath, even under the water. Nepenthe was gorgeous, and seemingly harmless._

"_Sam," The goddess said sorrowfully, "Must we fight? You are my sister; I am yours. Allow me this small kingdom, and I will allow you to live. It is the only way this can end."_

"_No!" Sam said, speaking for the first. "I won't give up anything."_

"_I am not asking you to give it up," Nepenthe replied softly. "I need this, as you need your consort. Please, give me this!"_

"_I… I can't." Sam felt her own voice breaking. _You are Sam Manson!_ She told herself. _Sam Manson doesn't cry, she's sarcastic and dry and tough, damn it!_ "I can't give up what's mine," she continued bitterly. _

"_Then…" Nepenthe sounded so regretful. So… sorry and sad. "We must war." Then tears flowed down the pale cheeks, and when Sam touched one with a fingertip she was startled to feel warm water on her skin._

_A drop fell to the mirror, and she realized that, despite all of her pep talk, she had begun to cry. Glassy tears flowed from her eyes, and slipped through the water to splash against the silver mirror as the two goddesses cried, together and apart._

Hekate held Sam's hand, stroking her face. The abnormal brain waves had grown stronger; Hekate didn't know what her protégé was going through, but it must be terrible. Suddenly, thick silvery tears slid from between Sam's eyelashes, sliding down her face and pooling at the hollow of her throat. Hekate watched, heart growing heavier, as the water crystallized into a sphere - clear and icy.

"_What'll we do now?" __Sam asked, wiping away her tears. She saw Nepenthe's soft, lithe fingers do the same in the mirror. She felt closer to her enemy than she ever had before, as if they were truly sisters. _Stupid tears,_ she thought wryly._

"_We fight. And the victor takes the Ghost Zone." Nepenthe hiccupped slightly. "And the loser dies away."_

_Sam knew this already, and smiled at the words even though they carried connotations of horror. "How do I get home?" she asked, voice shaky. Realizing this, she stood straight, throwing away her depression. Nepenthe saw this and took heart from it._

"_Wake up." _

"_But I don't know how!" Sam said, laughing almost. Her fingers gripped the edges of the silver mirror until they dug into her skin. She didn't want to let go of Nepenthe, finding in her the sister she never had. The depression almost returned as she remembered she'd have to kill her when she won - no if about it._

"_The mirror. It is what's holding you here." Nepenthe seemed just as unwilling to let Sam go. "Break it and you will wake up." _

_Sam nodded. "G-goodbye." she stammered. "I - well, I suppose I'll miss you, even though you're trying to take my kingdom."_

"_I'll miss you too, droicieat." Sam smiled, suddenly realizing who had given her the lullaby. "When next we meet, it will be on the battlefield." Nepenthe looked as if she wanted to gather Sam to her and hold her close, but refrained because of the situation and the distance. "Goodbye."_

_Sam nodded once, a lump in her throat that made it difficult to swallow. She floated over to the nearest rock, and raised the mirror high above her head. And when she swung down, the water gave no resistance._

Danny looked about, interest dampened by his worry for Sam. The world he entered was wide and tall and far all at once; the air smelled of the sea and burnt sugar, and the landscape was startlingly similar to outside the cave in Greece. They still stood on a cliff, but glassy stepping stones were suspended in the air to the rocks below, where black volcanic rock led to a beach. The beach, in turn, led to a forest that was huddled around the base of a caldera.

Danny took a step to follow the pups, who were already down three of the stepping stones, when a little hand as cold as ice clasped his wrist.

He looked down to see the Crystalline Lissith looking up at him worriedly. "_I've been looking for you!_" He said, impatient. "_Hekate wants you back in the infirm -_" Danny froze. Pangs hit his heart as a scream came from inside the cave; it was Sam. _Sam's awake - _he thought before throwing himself through the door, flying as quickly as he could down the hall and phasing through the partition.

Sam was sitting straight up, scream dying down to a sob, then she threw herself into Hekate's arms.

Danny watched as Sam - _his_ Sam, he supposed - stalwart, powerful Sam, cried into the bewildered Hekate's shoulder.

"Nepenthe…" She finally managed to choke out. "Nepenthe doesn't _want _to fight!"

She broke again, crying uncontrollably. In that moment, Danny had a sudden realization, the monumental _consequences_ of what they were doing.

And, for the first time in a long time, he felt no anger toward his fate as a halfa - just an intense, overt sadness.

Slera sat in her mistress's room, fiddling with the corners of her dress. She knew something was terribly wrong, and she was waiting for Lissith's report, along with Remory, Æria, and Brennan.

Astarte had pulled her aside after Sam had bolted, from the room and from everything in it; Danny had picked up the sphere she had dropped and followed her wordlessly. Rhiannon had joined her elder counterpart and all three, the goddesses and the brownie, looked at each other. Then, they had told her; she knew it would break her mistress's heart when she found out, but they had begged her not to tell anyone. Slera sighed and began to habitually clean the room again, reviewing the status of her contemporaries to not think about it.

Lissith was following the puppies in their errand, and Remory was making sure that the People were organized. Slera buried her head in her hands; since she was created, she had never felt so weary. It felt hard to believe that this had all happened in the past day. A small knock came at the door, and Slera looked up as Alas and Liz, her mistress's friends, came inside.

"Slera?" The Hispanic asked slowly. The brownie nodded her acknowledgement of their presence. She was so tired, and she knew what awaited them in this war. For the first time, she looked at their eyes.

Alas knew. Liz knew, as well - perhaps they had always known. Slera could see that, with her blue eyes that held all the oceans of all the worlds and the one sky that covered them; Astarte and Rhiannon had told them, most likely. It didn't matter. They knew they had hours, a day at the most, until Atropos did her work. A day until the inevitable war.

"Slera," Liz began, voice softer than the little brownie had ever heard it, "You know, too…?"

Slera looked away from their eyes, accepting but sorrowful, and gave one curt nod. She smoothed the covers of the bed for the thousandth time.

"…_I know,_" She conceded. "_You're so young…_"

"But old enough to know what we're doing," Alas reproached gently. "We are willing. I - _we_ - came to ask for a favor, if you could."

Slera knew what they wanted, and was willing to give it to them unconditionally. Her heart ached, and she swore to herself that, no matter the repercussions, she would uphold their request.

Liz knelt down by the little Fae, and whispered something. Slera considered for a moment, then nodded.

"_I will tell no one,_" She repeated. Alas and Liz looked relieved, and went to get ready. Slera knew that, while not a purpose given to her by her Lady, she now had a new way to see things, a new gift.

And the two little angels had given it to her.

Sam didn't know how far she ran in her world, the one of her creating - she knew she ran down the steps, past the sea and the beach and the forest, and past the caldera; she ran until she didn't see or hear even her beloved People, ran until there was no noise but for the sound of the light breezes that soothed the young-yet-old trees. She couldn't stop running - she had to escape that awful sadness and remorse in Nepenthe's eyes.

She finally collapsed beneath a rowan tree up a flowering hill, lay there and quivered. She had no more tears to shed, instead studying the beautiful world she had made with her magick.

She knew now why Nepenthe was fighting for this, and knew what she had meant by "And the loser dies away." She _knew_, and it killed her inside - Nepenthe needed the spectral energy of the Ghost Zone, as assuredly as Sam did, to survive. All of this was too much for a fifteen year-old. As she thought this, she realized something. Her birthday had passed and she hadn't even noticed.

She began to laugh - something that was part mirth, part shock, and part the hysterical noise displayed by the mad. She laughed and rolled onto her back, sitting up just long enough to stretch her wings out on either side. She laughed until she cried, and then when she finished crying she stood, using the tree for support.

She could see someone flying after her - and, unless the others had all gained ghostly powers, she knew _exactly _who it was. And she smiled.

Lissith and Æria were following the pups - Æria flying Lissith directly above the little black, white, and silver heads. Slera didn't know - as far as she was aware, Æria was cooking supper.

_Does it have to be so far from the Caer?_ Yasha whined, sitting in the middle of the path and wiggling his rump to make a dish in the road.

_Of course,_ Sesshy snapped.

Æria and Lissith watched wordlessly.

Danny touched down a hundred or so yards away, giving Sam time to collect herself. He walked soundlessly toward her, the crystal sphere in his left hand weighing heavily on his heart. The cloth of his hazmat suit caught on the spindly, reaching fingers of what proved to be a juniper bush. Pulling free, he saw Sam's feathers - the little bundle at her waist he had seen as she ran from the Caer - tangled with the leaves. He extricated them, the leather thong warm in his hand.

Continuing forward, he smiled in relief to see that Sam was waiting for him, leaning against the tree on the hill. He approached silently, and as he came up he realized he didn't know what to say.

"Um." He began. He felt himself blush inexplicably. He held out the sphere and the feathers wrapped in leather to her. "You, uh, left these behind," he finished lamely. Sam smiled and came forward, gathering the items and holding them in her clasped hands. She breathed gently on them, and then a gentle light shone on her face.

"Oh, you idiot." she sighed. She released the band and held it by the ends; the globe, still a lustrous blue, had engulfed the feathers and the knot holding them in place to make a unique pendant. He stretched a finger out and brushed the glass.

It immediately began to glow brighter, and when the light died down the sphere had become purest white. She stepped forward and put her arms around his neck fingers deftly tying a knot in the leather behind his white hair. "It's for you," She murmured gently, letting it fall between their chests and hang in tandem with her own opal.

Danny wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, kissing her. She responded so sweetly, fingers entwining in his hair and pressing back, sinking against his form. Her lips were soft against his and he just kissed her blindly; he didn't know _how _he knew, but he _knew_ that this was what Sam needed.

And the sphere, born of Sam's tears and Danny's love, wrapped around her opal and began to take the darkness from it, the sadness that had built up since her encounter with Nepenthe.

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**Um, bad news, guys. My inspiration has, quite literally, flown out the window. I truly love this story, but this might be the last chapter for a very, very long time. As soon as my inspiration returns I will write, but I want to thank you for sticking with me. It would be great if you reviewed this chapter, and kept this story in the back of your mind and check it once every few months. Again, Sorry. Love you all, though!!…And… thank you for understanding. You guys are total dolls!!! ^^**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: No, really. It's an update. Seriously.**

**Don't anyone have a heart attack, now.**

**Okay, I gave you guys some fluff. I **_**did**_**. I **_**also**_** left you hanging for… gosh. Months upon months, I think. Do any of my original readers look at this anymore?**

**If you do, drop a line (even if it's a **_**holy shit you asshole I've been **_**waiting**_** for this, where in fuck's sake were you?!?**_**) and tell me what you think.**

**Excuse the change in writing style. It's… well, it's been a while. Also, in a completely unrelated aside, read Patricia T. O'Conner's book, **_**Words Fail Me.**_** I have improved **_**so**_** much.**

**Okay, after my ridiculous A/N, let the battle begin. ________________________________________________________________________**

**Disclaimer: Do. Not. Own. If I did, the plot wouldn't have gone all crap all of a sudden, and there would be an ultimate goal (y'know, instead of random ghosts popping out of everywhere conceivable and a few places that aren't.)________________________________________________________________________**

**Warning: Swears, the occasional innuendo, and the masterful ability of Yasha, Sesshy, and Mir-Mir to kill with cuteness and badassery.**

* * *

Nepenthe looked at the glass she had been holding, now smashed against the floor. The shards of glass had scattered everywhere, slicing her feet and calves, the clear liquid that was her blood dripping to the ground and staining it silver.

Regret did not have a place in war, she told herself sternly. You cannot care for your enemy, you cannot hope to win if you don't want to kill…

"My queen," A silky voice said from behind her. "It is time to rally your troops."

"I know, Plasmius," she murmured.

Regret had no place in war.

_Maa,_ Yasha whined as the three pups trudged down the road, his small white head shaking in irritation. _Does the gate have to be so far?_

_Yes,_ Sesshy snapped, losing patience. He whirled to nip at Yasha, but froze.

Æria and Lissith did as well, hovering twenty feet above.

_Dammit, Æria! Lissith!_ Sesshy shouted. _Get down here, NOW!_

With mutual glances conveying "_busted_", Æria and Lissith dropped to the ground.

"Slera?" Sam called out. Her eyes scanned the hall for the brownie, but couldn't find her anywhere. "Slera?"

"_Here, milady,_" the blue eyed Fae said quietly. Sam dashed into her room without another wasted moment.

"Slera, something _incredible _just - Slera?" Sam looked around the room for the brownie. She saw nothing for a moment; searching intently now with her purple eyes, she finally spotted the brownie sitting in the corner, gazing listlessly at her mistress.

"Slera…? Are you alright?" Sam asked. She walked over and knelt beside the Fae, searching the pupil-less eyes for some form of recognition.

"_Milady…_" shakily, Slera pointed behind her.

Only then did Sam recognize the silence around her; blanketing and whole.

Danny flew leisurely back, white hair tickling his neck. He needed a haircut. He pushed that to the side, though.

Sam had kissed him. And not the adorably quick pecks on the cheek, either. He shivered in remembrance, the happiness slightly overwhelming. Sam had flown ahead, presumably to collect her thoughts and everyone else; in the few moments they had after the kiss, they had decided that if there was a time for battle, it would be now.

He was about to speed it up when he looked down. He cocked his head to the side, as if considering. Then he swooped down, alighting silently on a branch above the quarreling group.

"_Dammit, Æria,_"Lissith mumbled. "_I _told_ you to fly thirty feet higher._"

"_Oh, hush,_" The Avianic hissed. "_You're a Crystalline, you could have given us some cloud cover._"

_Shut up, both of you,_ Mir-Mir barked, surprisingly stern. He sat back, wiggling his ebony hindquarters into the path to create a dish of earth for his stubby tail. _The fact of the matter is, you followed us with no apparent reason in order to spy on us._

"_Did not!_" Lissith replied, shocked. "_We weren't spying - honest! We wanted to help!_"

_Of course,_ Sesshy sniffed derisively. _If you had wanted to help with a gating, you would have brought Brennan._

"_Hey!_" Æria snapped, waspish. "_We're Inhumans, not magicians. We don't work with spells, we work with the world. And, anyway, isn't gating an air magick, anyway!?_" She scowled at the three pups so fiercely Yasha growled in warning. "_If you _really_ wanted to help, you would have gotten Lady's Consort to help._" She nodded smugly at the tree Danny was perched in, the puppies whirling around so quickly it gave Danny metaphorical whiplash. "_He's a ghost._"

_Danny!_ Yasha howled, frustrated and just a bit ornery. _Danny Fenton, you get down here or I'll --_

"Sheesh," Danny muttered as he phased through the branches. "Don't blow a gasket."

_I__'m gonna blow _something_ up, and you better _hope_ it's a gasket,_ Yasha seethed.

_How did you remain undetected?_ Mir-Mir asked innocently. _We have wards up._

"Wards?" Danny felt very, very confused. Just what had he stumbled onto here?!

_Protective barriers, _Sesshy explained testily. Lissith, however, had perked up at the sight of the ghost boy.

"_Look!_" he crowed. "_Now you can open the gate!_"

"Gate to where?" Danny asked suspiciously.

_The gate to the Ghost Zone, of course, _Mir-Mir yipped. _What?_ he asked, glaring at Sesshy's rolled eyes.

_You have no sense of dramatic timing, _Sesshy pouted. He frowned at Danny after a moment. _Where's Lady?_

"She went back to the cave," Danny said with nary a flush. "We decided it was time to start this battle."

_That's fin-_

A small fountain of dirt shot up, narrowly avoiding everyone present. Brennan, little sharp hands pulling himself out of the dirt, grimaced at them in relief.

"_You've got to go back to the cave!_" He exclaimed as soon as he could breath. "_Lady's in trouble!_"

Danny was gone before Brennan finished saying "in".

Sam rolled to the left, scooping up Slera and holding her to her chest as she crouched, eyes flashing a terrifyingly icy blue at the man before her.

"Plasmius," She said, voice as terribly cold as her eyes.

"A pleasure, dear, to see you again," He answered sweetly, and she leapt to the side as he directed a cerise energy bolt at where she had been crouched.

"What did you do to her?" Sam spat, cradling the limp Slera as if to pass her energy to the brownie by contact alone.

"I was feeling a bit _exhausted_," he simpered, eyeing the brownie with a look of distaste. "I simply absorbed her energy."

"_Milady,_" Slera coughed urgently. "_You need to know…_"

"_Damn you, woman,_" Lissith shouted to Æria over the wind, "_can't you go any faster?!_"

"_I'm not Mr. Supersonic, I can't fly _nearly_ as fast as that boy can!_" Æria called back. Below them, the puppies had transformed and were now bounding after Danny, three streaks of moonlight in a slowly falling twilight. "_If you want to help, feel free!_"

"_Shut up,_" He replied, too sick with worry to note how acerbic his tone was. She was too wracked with fear to hear it.

"_That bastard,_" Slera managed, her voice stronger; Plasmius growled at the slight to his legitimacy, "_That incredibly asinine fool took all of them to Nepenthe. All of them! Remory, Alas and Liz, Rhiannon, Astarte, Hekate, Jazz and Tucker! Gone!_"

Slera took a rattling breath. "_Brennan got away a few seconds after the bastard had me cornered,_" she continued doggedly. "_He's going to warn anyone left._"

"Who's left?" Sam asked, fear bubbling in her stomach.

"_The pups weren't here when he tricked Hekate into letting him past,_" Slera choked for a moment, fighting to breath. She opened her mouth.

"Well, I'm done waiting," Plasmius barked and flung his hands wide, sparks of pink homing in on Sam.

Tucker wriggled against his bonds, deciding that if he ever made it out of this alive, this would _not_ be a kink he was into. He gave up for the fourth time in a row, sighing and leaning up against the anteroom wall. Liz watched amusedly, nudging Alas' ankle with her toe.

She jerked her head at Tucker, a smirk just visible under her gag. Tucker scowled and wriggled again; he stopped when he smacked his forehead against the cold stone floor and yelped audibly through the gag. Alas and Liz burst out into muffled laughing; the goddesses looked a little less amused. Tucker supposed that as because they were waiting to meet Nepenthe in the flesh.

Today, he thought irritably, sucked.

Sam, by some form of a miracle she could no longer attribute to a higher deity, rolled out of the way.

"_Æria, Lissith and Brennan, the puppies, and Danny,_" Slera murmured urgently. "_They remain unrestrained._"

"Thank you," Sam whispered gently, and set Slera down after the gracious, and exhausted, nod.

She stood and turned on her heel.

"Oh, are you going to start fighting?" Plasmius taunted with a smirk. "About time. I was wondering where your bite had gone."

"You want bite?" Sam asked, so acidic and vicious that Plasmius took a step back. "I think you've bitten off more than you can chew."

"Only if I can't withstand a bundle of clichés," he answered, smirk only wavering once. He deserved a medal, he thought.

She shot him the bird and snarled. Planting herself firmly on the ground, she grinned wickedly. Her hands clenched at her side, and she felt her vocal cords thrum.

"_**Change**_**,**" she whispered.

Danny phased through the wall, landing on the floor inside and dashing down the corridor. He listened for any sound of talking, then realized he couldn't hear anything through the thick walls.

Then it came. A whisper that curled around every atom of every being with a thousand-mile radius, that echoed loathing and a deep-seated, righteous anger.

"_**Change.**_"

Danny took off running.

"_Fuck,_" Lissith murmured, looking at the wall. "_How in the Ghost Zone are we getting through _that_?!_"

Æria sidestepped graciously as the wolves ran up. Lissith barely had time to latch onto Mir-Mir before they were through the blocked entrance, Æria gripping Yasha's hackles and Brennan clinging desperately to Sesshy's neck.

"_**Change.**_"

Æria looked from Brennan to Lissith, the wolves at each other. Then a furiously horrified "_SAM!!_" made them look to the right. The was a flash of pink light, and a black-and-white clothed boy was tossed through the door as if a child had gotten sick of their rag doll.

Sam felt the change as a rush of heat, burning and dry, that leached all emotion from her. When she opened her eyes, she was facing a decidedly startled Plasmius.

She felt the change for what it was - her wings were splayed backward in a protective gesture, the black split-skirt fluttering around her ankles, her violet-turquoise-ebony hair undulating in a furious halo about her head.

This is what Nemesis felt like, she thought quietly. It was retribution she was seeking, and she would get it.

Her eyes sparked yellow loathing at Plasmius, who flinched away from the glare as if it was a physical slap; she smirked wide and extended a hand to the man, mockingly spreading it wide in a gesture of help. She notice vaguely that she had purple gloves on, but paid them no mind.

"What," she asked, acidly, sickeningly dulcet voice poisoning the air around him. She licked her lips, eyes blinking innocently and devilishly all at once. "No bite?"

Danny phased through the wall, eyes wild. His eyes alit on Sam, and he couldn't help but wonder what could have driven her this far. The skirt was torn and ragged, hair whipping about; the wings were more skeletal, more bone than feather. Her eyes were larger, lashes longer, but filled with an inordinate amount of righteous anger.

She extended her hand to Plasmius, an acerbic gesture of camaraderie.

"What," she murmured, licking her lips. "No bite?"

The yell tore itself from his throat, requiring no permission of its owner to be sounded. He reached for her desperately, a terribly mangled bastardization of her name fleeing his lips. She turned to him, infinitely slowly, shock written in her eyes, as Plasmius sneered.

"Goodbye," his highest enemy murmured silkily, fingers flicking at him. The bolt hit him before he could react, and he felt a wall colliding violently with his back before losing all consciousness.

"Danny!" Sam gasped, eyes flashing amethystine fear at his prone form. She took a falteringly step forward, but was forced back by a shock of pink energy stinging her shoulder.

"My dear," Plasmius said, all shock gone, "Danny is the _least_ of your problems."

"Where are they?" She hissed in response, casting his words aside like yesterday's trash. "Where did you put my -"

"Your _friends_, Samantha?" Plasmius smirked lazily and threw a hand up, palm glowing a soft cherry that sparked with reined-in energy. "In the Ghost Zone, where else? For a goddess queen, you know very little. Nepenthe desired a… _meeting_, of sorts, with the trio of goddesses who are with you. The friends went along for the ride."

"Shut your mouth, Plasmius," she snarled, grinding her teeth. "I _will_ have them back." She snapped her gloved hand in a whip manoeuvre, a long thread of purple magick wrapping itself around his wrist. Shifting her weight backward, she twisted roughly, dragging him along in an arc that would have smashed him through the wall. He smiled and phased through, solidifying in time to be cracked satisfyingly against the floor. The purple magick undulated back into the palm of Sam's hand, only to be drawn out into a paper-thin shield to deflect the burst of pink.

This dance of anger and anguish wrapped itself around Sam with insidious fingers, gripping her mind and body, the two of them dealing as many blows as they received. She clasped her hands to her shoulders, gathering her energy, and flung her hands out in a welcoming gesture, sapphirine flechettes soaring around the room and slicing into Plasmius' skin. He didn't flinch once, but whirled easily with the tiny barbs and directed a pulse that she only avoided with the barest of shifts. Her wings fluttered angrily, and more than once the ghost was cuffed with a velveteen-laced wing bone.

"Give it _up_, Samantha!" Plasmius taunted. "Do you _honestly_ think you can defeat _me_? I am how many years your senior, and how many years a ghost?" he managed to land a vicious punch on her jaw, and she skidded back with a furious curse.

"Do _you_," she spat, "_honestly_ think a ghost can defeat his queen?" the feathers on her wings extended to wicked blades, slicing into his skin terrible lacerations, cutting away chunks of flesh as he screamed, unable to phase though the magick. "_**Did you truly believe you could kill me?!**_" She backhanded him out of pure spite, his head lolling and half alive. "_**Did you?!?**_"

"I did!" He screeched as he surged up, grappling for the upper hand.

His pale fingers gripped her shoulder, and she began to feel the drain; her eyes began to cloud over.

She vaguely made out the wolves leaping into the room before she went blind.  
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**I need at least five reviews before I post the next one (when it's written…)! And not all from the same person, either!**

**I love you all! Wish me luck in getting into the NEYWC!!!**


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